Scoreboard 2015: Lotus, Grosjean and Maldonado

LOTUS 6.5

It still doesn't explain how Lotus managed to take part in all the grand prix this season. At the beginning of 2015, already with considerable financial problems, he had to chase away the specter of controlled administration between one trial and another to reach an agreement with the numerous creditors. On the track the results did not arrive immediately, indeed, in the first half of 2015 the team seemed tormented by bad luck, with the cars stopped several times by technical problems. Just when the Team seemed to have reached agreements with the creditors and after the podium in Belgium, in a flourishing moment, other troubles put its participation in the Italian GP in doubt, with the team's trucks arriving on the circuit only at Thursday, and with members of the other teams helping to build the Motorhome. Word then spread that it wasn't Lotus who was paying the employees' salaries, but Bernie Ecclestone himself, at which point the Enstone team began to be the joke of the group. The sponsors who didn't pay, Ecclestone who opened the Paddock Club restaurant for the mechanics and so on. The future of the team was sealed, whatever the results until the end of the season, farewell to the circus was now a certainty, until Renault's offer to acquire the team was revealed. Renault, which had already taken an interest in Tororosso at the beginning of the season, fell back on the easier purchase of Lotus, now practically on sale, to enter Formula 1 with an official team. The purchase, made official only at the end of the season, will give the team peace as regards the economic side, but obviously the Lotus name will disappear once again from Formula 1, and next year we will talk about Renault.

We don't deny that Lotus' season must have been really difficult, and it certainly wasn't easy to concentrate well on the track with so many problems creating pressure from outside. The results arrived more in the second part of the season than in the first, probably after having resolved some initial technical problems. In the end Lotus managed to stay ahead of Tororosso in the constructors' championship.

Comparison in Qualifying – Gro 17 Mal 2

Comparison in the Race – Gro 11 Mal 5 (three double withdrawals in Australia, Great Britain and Italy)

ROMAIN GROSJEAN 7.5 (51 points)

After many years in this team, after many satisfactions and after many disappointments, Romain has decided to move on and in 2016 he will race with Haas. The Frenchman has been, since Raikkonen left, and even more so this season, the team's point of reference, the one who, all things considered, brought home the placings that count. All things considered, he scored points in most of the races he finished, ten times out of thirteen. In the other six races, it was the car or the accidents (as in Great Britain, Russia and Italy) that gave him away. The best result this year was third place on the podium in Belgium after a close battle with Vettel, a podium that few other than Ferrari and Mercedes have achieved. The total points that he managed to collect are fifty-one, sufficient only to place him in eleventh place in the drivers' championship. Who knows if with a new car he will be able to aim for better positions...

PASTOR MALDONADO 5 (27 points)

The grade is a weighted average of the first part of the season, a nightmare, with banal errors and multiple retirements, and the second part, which was calmer with some good placings, but at the same time a bit colorless. Only five results in the top ten, many fewer than the penalties received by the Venezuelan this year. Pastor really made an impression next to Romain, both in qualifying and in the race. From next year he will have a teammate who will be equally, if not even faster than the Frenchman. What will make him stay at Renault? Skill or PDVSA?

Matteo Bramati.