Lotus progress harmed by future ownership uncertainty

Grosjean said that vital development work remains in the pipeline, rather than in production and then being brought to the racetrack, while the team’s rivals are constantly bringing update packages.

“The development hasn’t been as good as we wanted,” Grosjean admitted. “It’s not due to the people or the brains in the factory, we’ve got lots of ideas in the pipeline. The CFD, the design office and windtunnel is working very well together, but at the minute we just cannot bring them to the track.

“On the other hand, when you are thinking about selling the team, you won’t put any more money in because it’s all loss. So it’s a bit of waiting situation, and hopefully soon we’ll know more and move ahead.

"We’ve taken a huge step from last year, but we needed to move forward from our good baseline and we couldn’t achieve that.

“It’s frustrating for everyone. The situation is not ideal right now, it’s a bit of an in-between game and it should be better soon.”

Tyre supply issue a telltale sign

The financial uncertainty surrounding the team was highlighted this morning when Pirelli refused to release Lotus’s allocation of tyres until a money transfer was made just 50 minutes before the start of FP1.

“It wasn’t an ideal start to the day,” said Grosjean, who was forced to sit out the session anyway in favour of reserve driver Jolyon Palmer.