While Jarno Trulli liked a powerful start to the Spanish GP, running as high as 15th in the opening stages, Lotus team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was dissatisfied to miss the start of Round 5 as gearbox troubles left the Finn rooted to the pit lane at the Circuit de Catalunya. Following being penalized, Vitaly Petrov's Renault was set to split the pair of green and yellow cars on the grid although Kovalainen was quickly rushed back to the pit lane; however, the former Renault and McLaren driver was unable to start from the pits as mechanics were powerless from fixing his gearbox in time."We had a gearbox problem while we were firing up on the grid," Heikki added. "The gearbox selected two gears at once - there was some sort of software issue which caused it to fail. It's unfortunate, because we have had such a good weekend, but these things happen."
With Lotus having introduced a major upgrade for the start of the European season, Trulli brought his car home 17th.
"I'm pleased we finished comfortably ahead of Virgin, even though the car felt a bit difficult to drive today," the Italian told. "I don't really know why but it didn't feel the same as it did on Friday - despite that we achieved what we set out to today, showed good race pace and finished well."
Images © Sutton Images
