F1: Grosjean Buoyed By Lotus E21 Pace

Formula 1

F1: Grosjean Buoyed By Lotus E21 Pace

Lotus driver was quick on track in Jerez today....

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted February 06, 2013 Jerez, ES

Romain Grosjean of France and Lotus drives during Formula One winter testing at Circuito de Jerez on February 6, 2013 in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. (Photo: Getty Images)

Romain Grosjean professed himself happy with the Lotus E21 after setting the pace in Jerez today.

The French driver bettered Jenson Button’s opening day best time by 0.6s as the black and gold car continued to run reliably, completing a total of 95 laps. Kimi Raikkonen will be in the car from Thursday.

“It was good today, the program went to plan and we showed we have good reliability,” said Grosjean. “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% yet on the differences between each we have a good idea. Kimi will be working on this area for the next two days so we’ll have a better understanding when we head to Barcelona. It’s not easy to understand everything about the car and tires yet, but I think we’re working quite well and it’s up to us to find the best solutions.”

Meanwhile trackside operations director Alan Permane said: “I’m very happy with today’s performance. The pace looks good and we haven’t had any issues with reliability meaning we could complete all of our program without interruption.

“We focused on learning more about the 2013 Pirelli tires and ran with the soft, medium and hard compounds with a variety of different set-ups, both mechanical and aerodynamic, to understand how they react. This combined with a good mileage today to give us some very good data to work through ahead of Kimi getting in the car tomorrow.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.