Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Malaysian GP

In its own home race on April 4, Lotus Racing made a surprising qualifying result by making it into Q2 for the first time of the season. The qualifying was hit with heavy rain and saw many big names like Ferrari and McLaren dropping out in the Q1. Heikki Kovalainen did the team proud by making it to the second session and finds himself starting the race at 15th place while team-mate Jarno Trulli started at 18th. After prediction of heavy rain that would wreck havoc of the race on Sunday, the sky held themselves and the race sees Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing crossing the line first ahead of Mark Webber, also from Red Bull Racing. But luck wasn't with team Lotus as Kovalainen suffered a hydraulic problem and had to retire after 46 laps. Trulli meanwhile suffered power steering failure abut managed to soldier the car on and finished the race at 17th place, 5 laps down from the winner. Team principal Datuk Tony Fernandes was disappointed with the result, but remained in an upbeat mood. "We can take a lot away from this weekend. In the end, it is a major achievement to finish," said the founder of budget airline AirAsia.