Romain Grosjean has been filled with optimism after completing two successful days of pre-season testing for Lotus at the Circuito de Jerez, with the Frenchman handing over to team-mate Kimi Räikkönen as the 2013 pace-setter at the Andalusian circuit.
Despite admitting to a small amount of uncertainty over the new Pirelli tyres, Grosjean says he instantly felt comfortable in the E21 chassis; guiding it to a time of 1:18.218 on Wednesday afternoon, 0.643 seconds faster than Jenson Button's previous best.
"It was good today; the programme went to plan and we showed good reliability," explained Grosjean, who racked up 149 laps at Jerez. "For me, the whole test has gone well which bodes well for the year ahead. My feeling in the car is good and it was great to be at the top of the times. Even if it doesn't mean anything during testing, it's still good to be at the front.
"We used the Soft, Medium and Hard compounds and whilst we're not 100 percent yet on the differences between each we have a good idea. Kimi will be working on this area so we'll have a better understanding when we head to Barcelona (for the second pre-season test). It's not easy to understand everything about the car and tyres yet, but I think we're working quite well and it's up to us to find the best solutions."
Räikkönen will conduct the final two days of testing for Lotus at Jerez this week, where he is set to work with new Chief Race Engineer Ciaron Pilbeam for the first time.
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| Pos. | Driver | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  R. Grosjean | 01:18.218 | 95 |
| 2. | P. di Resta | 01:19.003 | 95 |
| 3. | D. Ricciardo | 01:19.134 | 83 |
| 4. | M. Webber | 01:19.338 | 101 |
| 5. | N. Hulkenberg | 01:19.502 | 99 |
| 6. | L. Hamilton | 01:19.519 | 15 |
| 7. | S. Perez | 01:19.572 | 81 |
| 8. | F. Massa | 01:19.914 | 78 |
| 9. | P. Maldonado | 01:20.693 | 71 |
| 10. | J. Rossiter | 01:21.273 | 19 |
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