Australian GP: Romain Grosjean suspects his Lotus had a problem

While team-mate Kimi Raikkonen won the season opener in commanding style, Grosjean came home in a distant 10th position despite having qualified just one place behind the Finn.

The Frenchman said something did not feel right with his car.

"Something felt wrong with my car, so I have to sit down with the team and analyse where the issue came from," said Grosjean.

"It felt so good all weekend until the race itself, but in the end the race was long and quite difficult for me.

"We know that Albert Park can be a tricky circuit and the weather has certainly not helped today.

"It's been a great weekend for the team with Kimi's win so it's clear there's pace in the car. Let's hope I can unlock that pace too next weekend in Sepang."

Team boss Eric Boullier said Grosjean had paid the price for making a poor start.

The team switched him to a three-stop strategy rather than the planned two-stopper, but Grosjean never managed to run in clear air.

"Unfortunately he got stuck in the traffic and even if our car is good on the tyres if you are stuck in traffic you get more understeer and oversteer and destroy your tyres quicker," he said.

"It's just bad luck after a wrong start. We changed his strategy to three stops but we could never get him out of traffic."

AUTOSPORT Australian GP coverage:

FP1 FP2 FP3 Qualifying Race Gallery Live commentary Official quotes