Häkkinen remained at Lotus for 1992 and was partnered by Herbert. At the opening round of the season in South Africa, Häkkinen finished in ninth position, which he followed up with his first points of the season in Mexico. He took a further finish in Brazil, although he did not qualify for the San Marino Grand Prix and suffered consecutive retirements in the following two races. At Monaco, Lotus introduced their new car, the Lotus 107. Häkkinen later gathered further consecutive points in the following two races, before he was forced into retirement at the German Grand Prix due to an engine failure. A similar pattern followed in the next three races, which was broken when he finished fifth in Portugal and suffered a retirement at the penultimate round of the year in Japan. Häkkinen concluded the season with a seventh-place finish in Australia.