F1: Lotus makes tweaks after failures

Lotus has made alterations to its Formula 1 car to prevent a recurrence of the problem that caused Romain Grosjean to retire from the Australian Grand Prix.

Grosjean retired on the first lap of the Albert Park race, after suffering a "loss of power" on the formation lap. It is beelievedd that Lotus retired the car after a turbo pipe came loose, causing a loss of boost pressure to the engine.

The same problem affected both Grosjean and teammate Pastor Maldonado during free practice in Melbourne and the team has elected to change its hoses, and the make of clips used to connect them, on the E23 in effort to prevent another occurrence.

Lotus qualified its cars eighth and ninth for the first race of 2015 and it was expecting to score points with both on its Mercedes-engined debut, but for Grosjean's pipe problem and the first corner accident that eliminated Maldonado.

"We left Melbourne with a very positive mind, knowing that the car was back in the top 10 consistently through the weekend," Grosjean told reporters ahead of this weekend's Malaysian GP. "Of course we missed a big opportunity because with our performance we certainly could have been P5, but it's not like last year when you had a one-off and thought, 'When is the next time it's going to be good?'

"Things are now back in a good shape and there are going to be more opportunities. That's the thing that matters."

Grosjean also expects Lotus to remain strong through the early races.

"We were only eight tenths to P3 in qualifying [in Australia] and my lap was probably not the best we have ever done, and the temperature dropping wasn't helping us either," he added. "Hopefully we have some more development coming in the near future and all of that will help. We should look forward, not backward."

Originally on Autosport.com