Lotus: No reliability concerns

Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane has insisted the team doesn't have any concerns about reliability heading into the Korean Grand Prix this weekend, despite Romain Grosjean's problems in Singapore.

Grosjean was looking pretty strong in the race around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, however, engine issues forced him on lap 38.

He also had a number of problems in Friday practice too and only did 30 laps in total thanks to a catalogue of mechanical woes.

Despite all that though, Permane is not worried: "On Friday we had a problem with the steering which was an isolated setup issue, but there was then a brake and a hydraulic problem on top of that. These types of issue can be a pretty normal experience on a Friday and were all isolated in nature," he explained.

"With regards to his engine failure in the race, Renault Sport are looking closely at what happened and we wouldn't expect a repeat of this either."

Looking to Korea, Permane added that he is confident the Ensteon-based outfit will be strong there and in all the remaining races of the 2013 F1 season.

"Both drivers did us proud in Singapore," he added. "Romain delivered fantastically well in both qualifying and the race despite his limited track time, whilst Kimi [Raikkonen] overcame his back pain to score an impressive podium finish.

"Like us, most teams will have now switched their development focus to 2014 so we wouldn't expect a dramatic change to the relative performance of each outfit between now and the end of the season.

"That leaves us in a tight scrap with both Ferrari and Mercedes, and with both our guys performing at this level - coupled with the potential from the car at the coming tracks - we should have a good end to the season in prospect," he confirmed.