P4 Maldonado expects 'more pace'

Pastor Maldonado believes Lotus can unlock “some more pace” at the Red Bull Ring, despite already setting the fourth fastest lap in Friday’s second free practice for the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan is coming off his strongest race weekend in 2015, having scored his first points of the season in Canada.

While Maldonado had a quiet Friday morning session at the Red Bull ring with P12, the ex-Williams racer showed more speed in FP2, where he even beat championship leader Lewis Hamilton to P4.

“I had a positive day and it’s enjoyable to drive the E23 around this circuit,” said Maldonado. “The day was pretty straight-forward actually. We had no dramas so we were able to work through our programme and make good progress.

“I think there is still some potential for more pace from the car and then we should go well tomorrow and in the race. I’m looking forward to it.”

Meanwhile. Lotus reserve Jolyon Palmer once again deputised for regular driver Romain Grosjean in FP1, before the Frenchman also popped up in the top ten during the afternoon running and went P7.

Trailing Maldonado by three tenths, Grosjean takes comfort from his team-mate’s strong pace as a token of Lotus’ form at Spielberg.

“The car felt good, but we’ve still got some work to do ahead of the race and qualifying,” he said. “The balance wasn’t quite where I wanted for my fastest run on the super soft so we’ve got some progress to make for qualifying.

“Pastor went well in the same conditions, so we can see there’s pace to be found. For the race we’ve got to work on some of the set-up but there is good potential for the weekend ahead.”

Click here for F1i's exclusive interview with Daniel Ricciardo

Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter