James, sixth and eighth on the grid for Lotus Renault GP – surely that was hard to predict this time yesterday?
We certainly had a troubled day yesterday, but there was no reason to believe from yesterday’s running that the car was struggling for pace so it’s very nice to be sixth and eighth on the grid, very nice to have both our cars in the top ten only having had one in Melbourne.
Does today’s result put you in a strong position for tomorrow?
It will do if we make a good start as both drivers are already in points-scoring positions. However, if we want to convert a promising qualifying into something very good then we’re going to have to do well in what is certainly going to be an interesting race, whether that’s with the risk of rain which is more than moderate and also with the fact that there’s going to be a flurry of pit-stopping.
How do you think the tyres will hold up tomorrow, it what is likely to be wet conditions?
That’s one of the things we have less of a feeling for than maybe some of our competitors because of yesterday’s compromised running. However, from what little high fuel running we did manage yesterday, we seemed to be alright for our race pace even with a car balance which was far from satisfactory. However, with the balance we’ve achieved today, we believe the car will run well on its tyres tomorrow.