Grosjean: Lotus looking good here

Lotus F1 driver Romain Grosjean was upbeat following practice today for the Monaco Grand Prix and believes the team now has a 'good baseline' for the rest of the weekend. Grosjean ran strongly in both sessions, and was second quickest in FP1 and FP2, finishing the day just under four tenths off the McLaren of Jenson Button. The Frenchman, who has scored points in the last three races in succession, is now looking forward to the rest of the weekend. “I think the car is suiting the track pretty well and I love Monaco, it's good to be here and it's nice to see so many fans,” said the 26-year-old. “The car was looking good this morning and this afternoon – we are working in a good direction. “Unfortunately it was a bit wet this afternoon and we couldn't do all the programme we wanted to achieve but as we have a good baseline it shouldn't be such a big deal. Let's see what the weather will be like over the next few days and what we can achieve. I think that we are looking good in both conditions.” Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen meanwhile had a more frustrating day, missing FP1 after deciding he wasn't happy with the steering set-up on his E20. He finished up 19th in FP2 on a 1m 19.267s. “It's good to be back in Monaco even if we missed some running today. The steering wasn't to my liking so the team changed it for me. It's something you change for Monaco and there's no way of knowing what it will be like beforehand,” the Finn explained. "The car felt good in the second session, though it was obviously pretty slippery when the track was wet. I would have liked to have had more time in the car, but Monaco's a track I know pretty well and it hasn't changed much over the years. Let's see what happens on Saturday.” “We're happy with today's performance as we came here with a certain amount of trepidation about whether our cars would be competitive,” added Lotus technical director, James Allison. “It was a disappointment to have missed the first session whilst we changed the steering setup on Kimi's car, but he's an old enough trooper to get himself up to speed on Saturday. “The pace shown by Romain in both sessions was certainly encouraging. All the Monaco upgrades seem to be working well and the E20 is pretty happy around what is a very unique track.”