[F1] Lotus F1 Racing

vino_93 a écrit:faudrait revoir ça qd même

TURKISH GRAND PRIX
Turkey, 30th May 2010

Lotus Racing were having one of their best days of the season until a double hydraulics failure brought both Jarno and Heikki’s races to an end on laps 32 and 33 respectively, Jarno coming to a halt on track and Heikki retiring in the pit.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03) Started 19th, DNF: “It was difficult at the beginning with the hard tyres, and the team were telling me Heikki was quicker on the options, and as he was on a different strategy he got past. Afterwards, I was pulling away from our competitors comfortably, but the failure put an end to the good race I was having. “

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01) Started 20th, DNF: “What a shame. I lost power steering in turn eight and it looks like it was a hydraulics failure. At first I thought I had a puncture as the steering suddenly felt really strange, but then I lost the gearbox, the clutch, and throttle. It’s so unfortunate as this was our strongest race so far. I was on the softer tyre and although I wasn’t sure how they would run at the beginning of the race, they did in fact hang on really well. I can’t help but feel disappointed, but as I’ve said before these things happen, and we will work through this, and come out stronger as a result.

“We’re only a few tenths off the other teams per kilometre, and we know the areas to work on to improve this car. I’m confident we can make a very big step for next year and for now, we’ll move on and put this behind us.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “Obviously very disappointing to have two cars go out on the same lap when we were having such a strong race, our strongest performance all year. We started the cars with Jarno on the harder tyre, and Heikki on the soft – Heikki was slightly quicker on the option to start with, but towards the end of the stint Jarno was catching him. We were hanging on for the pitstops, monitoring the rain situation, but then had sudden hydraulic failures on both cars. Heikki’s was a leak from the power steering, and with Jarno we don’t know as yet what the specific issue was. Despite that we have to keep our chins up after what was a really strong weekend from the whole team, fix these problems and move on. ”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “This looked like it was going to be a great weekend for us so it’s obviously very disappointing to have it all brought to an end in such a fashion, after what was probably our best race so far. Jarno and Heikki should be very proud of the times they put in, and the whole team should be pleased with how far we’ve come. This is a low but to be champions we have to deal with the lows, learn from them and move on. It all reminds me of the early days of AirAsia, but we have just been awarded the title of world’s best low cost airline for the second year running, so I know we can repeat that with this team, and one day be victorious. Onwards and upwards, and now we’ll focus on Montreal.”

Ends

Force India vs Aerolab : Lotus n’est pas concerné
Même si le team est cité comme co-accusé

mardi 1er juin 2010 - 16h31, par Sandrine Bouchard

Le conflit opposant l’équipe Force India à Aerolab/Fondtech est loin d’être terminé, le team britannique réclamant des dommages et intérêts à la compagnie italienne.

Force India reproche à Aerolab d’avoir transmis des informations sur sa monoplace 2009 à l’équipe Lotus et a lancé une action contre la compagnie, qui l’avait elle-même attaquée en fin d’année pour de sérieuses et persistantes ruptures de contrat.

Lotus a été nommée comme co-accusé dans cette affaire, mais a reçu l’assurance d’Aerolab/Fondtech qu’elle ne risquait absolument rien.

"Lotus Racing a été nommé comme co-accusé dans une procédure qui oppose essentiellement Force India et Aerolab/Fondtech. Cette procédure ne fait état d’aucun acte répréhensible de la part de Lotus Racing", a déclaré un porte-parole du team.

Force India attaque bien Lotus en justice
En plus d’Aerolab et Gascoyne

mercredi 2 juin 2010 - 10h51, par Franck Drui

Force India a confirmé ce matin qu’elle avait bien lancé une action en justice contre Aerolab et Mike Gascoyne, comme nous vous en parlions hier déjà. Cependant l’équipe indienne a également décidé de s’attaquer à l’équipe Lotus directement, via sa maison mère, 1Malaysia Racing Team.

Lotus Racing a été nommée comme co-accusée dans cette affaire, mais l’équipe avait reçu l’assurance hier d’Aerolab/Fondtech (société fondée par Migeot et Gascoyne) qu’elle ne risquait absolument rien.

Force India déclare "qu’elle a de très sérieux doutes et qu’elle n’entamerait pas une telle action si elle n’avait pas des preuves." Force India pense en effet que le modèle de Lotus T127 aperçu dans la soufflerie d’Aerolab fin 2009 n’est rien de moins que basée sur sa voiture de l’an dernier, "notamment certains composants," sans citer lesquels.

Aerolab a de son côté une action en justice en cours contre Force India pour factures impayées. Force India affirme avoir payé 1 million d’euros à Aerolab à l’automne 2009 pour la fin de son contrat et demande à la cour de justice de trancher, si à la lumière de ces faits de l’utilisation de sa propriété intellectuelle sans son autorisation, d’autres sommes doivent être versées à Aerolab alors qu’elle attend plutôt des dommages et intérêts...

LOTUS RACING COMPLETES WORLD BEATING TEAM
Hingham, UK 2nd June 2010

Lotus Racing has today confirmed the appointment of Mark Smith to the role of Technical Director, completing the senior technical structure and giving the team an excellent platform from which to achieve its goals of long-term success in the FIA Formula One World Championship.

Reporting to Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne, Mark will start at the end of his Force India notice period, and joins Lewis Butler (Chief Designer) and Marianne Hinson (Head of Aerodynamics), also from Force India, at the Anglo-Asian squad. These appointments, alongside Keith Saunt (Chief Operating Officer), Dieter Gass (Deputy Technical Director), Elliot Dason-Barber (Head of Vehicle Dynamics), Frank Ramowsky (Head of R&D), Rob Reeve (Head of Electronics) and Jody Egginton (Chief Engineer), complete the technical senior management structure.

Mike Gascoyne: “I’m exceptionally pleased to welcome Marianne and Lewis to Lotus Racing, and I’m very excited to once again be teaming up with Mark Smith who I have previously worked with at Jordan, Renault and Force India. Lewis and I were together at Force India, and Lewis also worked with Mark Smith at Red Bull, and Marianne and I have known each other since 1999 when I gave her her first job in F1 at Jordan, so we all know each other very well.

“Mark Smith and I were first at Jordan together where our first car was the 199, Jordan’s most successful F1 entrant, and then he came with me to Renault where we helped put them back on the top step of the podium, and put in place the team that went on to win two world championships. Most recently we were together at Force India, and I’m delighted he sees the potential we have here, and has seized the opportunity to work with me, Tony and the whole team on helping Lotus Racing reach the front of the grid.

“For me, it’s not just about the proven technical ability of the team we now have in place, it’s also the fact we’ve all worked together before, know how to achieve the goals we’ve set out, and know how to have fun together. We all work together extremely well, and that gives us the perfect base from which to build for long-term success.”

Renowned for his belief in the power of the people he works with, Team Principal and Group CEO of AirAsia Tony Fernandes echoed Mike’s comments “I am delighted to welcome Mark, Lewis and Marianne to the team, and they join a group of extremely talented people at Lotus Racing.

“I am honoured that these fantastic talents have put their careers and their faith in Lotus Racing, and see the very bright future we all have together here. Formula One is a small world and the fact that they are coming to our team shows what we have already achieved in a very short period. Nothing will stop us from bringing in the best people we can, and we will give them the best working environment, and create the perfect atmosphere for them to fulfil their own potential, and help us in our quest to reach the top."

Ends

Lotus signings a 'statement of intent'

By Matt Beer Wednesday, June 2nd 2010, 17:52 GMT

Lotus' chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne has described the signing of leading design personnel Mark Smith, Marianne Hinson and Lewis Butler from Force India as a 'statement of intent'.

He says drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen knew when they joined up that moves to recruit the trio were underway, and that this was key to convincing the two experienced racers to take a chance on the start-up team.

"Certainly starting next year and targeting where we're going to be next year and beyond, this is a significant statement of intent," Gascoyne told AUTOSPORT. "A little bit like signing Jarno and Heikki. You had two experienced drivers and people saying 'well what are they going to be driving at the back of the grid? Why are they doing it?'

"Well now you start to see why maybe, because they would've know that these sort of people were on board a long time before everyone else did. That's what they're signing up for, the fact that next year's car is going to be designed by people of this calibre. That's why they're on board."

He described Smith and his colleagues' decision to join Lotus as a major complement to the young team.

"They have faith in the team, they have faith in the finance of the team, they have faith in me, they have faith in Tony [Fernandes]," Gascoyne said.

"Norfolk isn't the easiest place in the country to persuade people to come to, and the fact that they're moving their families, it shows the belief that there is in Lotus. I don't think they want to move to Norfolk because they're loyal to me, they've got to believe in what they're doing."

Gascoyne added that the new personnel would help Lotus move its focus onto its 2011 car.

"There will be updates all year, but it was always the intention to switch early," he said. "You saw in Turkey that we've come from five seconds off the pace to three seconds off the pace. But we're still a second off the cars in front - the Toro Rossos, the Williams, the Saubers.

"Now we think we'll close that done to not very much by the end of the year, but it still puts you 19th and 20th on the grid. So there's an element of saying 'why bother?', let's switch that resource onto 2011 and start 2011 in the midfield pack.

"I think that's a very sound argument and that's very much what we're focused on, and again these guys are very much part of that."

While Hinson and Butler have already started work at Lotus, Gascoyne said Smith's arrival date depended on him negotiating a notice period with Force India.

"That's entirely in his hands and Force India's," he said. "He'll come to us when he's able to."

Lotus announced its new signings on the same day that Force India issued a statement insisting it was still pursuing legal action against the team, but Gascoyne played down the situation between the two squads.

"It's unfortunate. We regard the legal action as old news really," he said. "We feel that situation will become eminently clear to everyone as that develops."

Narm a écrit:Allez au moins un point avant le début de la saison, on y croit : genre sur un circuit bien sélectif avec de la pluie type Montréal ou Spa

LOTUS RACING GRAND PRIX DU CANADA PREVIEW
Hingham, UK 4th June 2010

The Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal is one of the highlights of the Grand Prix season, a race everyone in the pitlane looks forward to, both for the challenges the temporary circuit presents, and the amazing nightlife in one of the world’s great cities. Lotus Racing will be competing in their first Canadian race, and are looking to keep closing the gap to the midfield, calling on the experience Jarno and Heikki bring on the demanding Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve to continue their progress in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Heikki Kovalainen: “I’m really looking forward to Canada. Montreal is an amazing city and everyone there really loves the fact they have a race on their doorsteps. It's pretty impressive how the whole place almost becomes like a festival – some streets are closed for parties, events and all sorts of things, and everyone really gets behind the whole race. With the circuit being practically in the city it's hard to escape the noise and goings on, but I love it.

“The circuit itself is a real challenge, for the cars and the drivers. Braking is very important because there are long straights and it’s the second hardest circuit on the brakes in the whole season – cooling them is a priority and getting your braking points right is the key to a good lap. There’s always a lot of action in the braking zones, so we’ll see how we get on in the race. Riding the kerbs well is also critical, so it’s important to set up the car for them, and we'll focus on that on Friday.”

Jarno Trulli: “Canada’s a funny one for me - even though I love Canada - the track, the people and the city - the race itself has never loved me! It’s a great challenge, and I’ve always performed pretty well there, but I’ve never had much luck there, so maybe that will change this year.

“As it’s a temporary circuit it’s a major challenge the whole way round. There’s the constant threat of the walls and it’s critical not to make any mistakes. You have to have confidence in the car and a good setup gives you the chance to push, but you’ve got to be perfect the whole time, otherwise it will bite you. It’s also very quick, and hard on brakes, so the cooling and the stability under braking are both important, and I think we’re pretty good in both areas, so we should be ok. Our car has been performing better and better over the last few races, so we’ll see what happens when we get out there, but I think we’ll continue to move away from the other new guys, and towards those ahead.”

Mike Gascoyne: “Canada’s a race we all look forward to. It’s a great city and a great race and we’re all glad to be going back to Montreal. It’s a temporary circuit where you often see quite a few people hit the wall, bringing out the safety car more than it’s usually seen. It’s one of those races where it’s possible to pick up points, and we’ve got to put ourselves in a position to do that. We’ve got two very experienced drivers in the car which will help us be there at the finish and that’s the primary goal. It’s going to be hard on brakes, but we’ve had no problems in that area. We’re also bringing a few more new parts, including a low downforce package specifically for Canada, so overall we want to build on the performances we’ve been putting in, aim for bullet-proof reliability, and have two cars see the flag.”

Tony Fernandes: “It’s been a busy couple of weeks since Turkey for the team and they’ve been working very hard in the factory, particularly focusing on our reliability. We have to aim to get two cars home whenever we can and consistent reliability is the key to doing that. We have developed well in a number of important areas, but so far reliability is one where we need to work harder – I hope Canada’s where we can turn that around.

“It’s one of the great races on the calendar, and we’re all looking forward to getting out there. North America’s an important area for us, particularly bearing in mind CNN is one of our partners and the heritage Lotus has on the continent, so I hope we put on a good show in Montreal. The steps we’ve taken so far this season should help us do that, and we’ve also just announced how we’ve strengthened the senior technical team, so the building blocks for the future are in place for us to keep moving forward.”

Ends

sdaniel07 a écrit:C'est dur hein de supporter une équipe tout seul ? J'ai connu ca moi aussi...

vino_93 a écrit:à vrai dire si les communiqués n'étaient pas en anglais ... (parce que franchement ça me donne la flemme de lire, bien que je comprenne le tout ).

Encore des soucis techniques pour Trulli


Jarno n’a pas de chance....

vendredi 11 juin 2010 - 23h05, par Daniel Thys
Si Heikki Kovalainen a réussi à travailler sans problème aujourd’hui, ce n’est pas le cas de Jarno Trulli qui a eu des problèmes électriques ce matin et cet après-midi.

"Les deux séances ont été bonnes aujourd’hui," affirme Heikki Kovalainen. "Bien sûr, le circuit n’a plus été utilisé depuis un bon moment et il était donc très sale en début de journée et même en fin de journée le niveau d’adhérence était encore faible, mais il s’améliorait peu à peu. Ce matin j’avais vraiment l’impression d’être dans une spéciale du rallye de Finlande et je pense que cela ne pourra que s’améliorer par la suite."

Jarno Trulli a eu une journée bien plus compliquée. "Cette journée a été difficile, mais j’ai surmonté cela et je reste positif. Après tout, ce n’est que notre première saison et ce n’est que la huitième course. J’ai pu faire quelques tours, mais ce n’était pas assez pour travailler sur les réglages afin que je me sente à l’aise. Il m’a semblé que les deux mélanges, les tendres et les durs, se dégradaient très vite. Quoi qu’il en soit, je veux remercier l’équipe qui a beaucoup travaillé pour résoudre les problèmes sur ma voiture."

Narm a écrit:Vous ne savez pas sur quel site il est possible de parier que les Lotus marquent leurs premiers points demain ?

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX FRIDAY PRACTICE
Montréal, Canada 11th June 2010

Back in Canada for Lotus Racing’s debut at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Friday’s practice sessions saw Lotus Racing comfortably ahead of their new team rivals, and edging ever closer to the midfield. Heikki Kovalainen completed his entire program and finished FP2 less than seven tenths behind Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso, but Jarno Trulli suffered an electrical problem that curtailed his running in both sessions.

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01 / FP1: 24 laps, 19th, 1.21.869 / FP2: 35 laps, 19th, 1.19.969): “Both sessions were pretty good today. The circuit obviously has not been used for a little while and it was quite dirty to start with, and even at the end of the second session the grip level was still quite low, but it’s definitely improving though! It felt a bit like a Rally Finland stage first thing this morning, so it could only get better from there!

“I think the team did a really good job today, improving the balance and keeping us going in the right direction all the time. The low downforce package seems to be working really well, which is very encouraging, and again, we’re not far away from the Toro Rossos. Maybe tomorrow in qualifying, I’ll be able to have a go at challenging them, and see what happens. We’re going to focus on keeping the rear of the car under control, and I think we are getting there with that, so, from my side of the garage, things are working out really well."

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03 / FP1: 12 laps, 21st, 1.22.543 / FP2: 11 laps, 22nd,1.21.346): “It’s been a difficult day but I’ll move on from this and I still feel positive – after all, this is still our first season, and we’re only eight races in. I had a few laps, but not enough to get a setup I felt comfortable with. I could feel that both the hard and the soft tyres suffered bad degradation, but after today I want to thank the team for working very hard to fix the problems on my car, and we’ll see if the luck will change tomorrow.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It was difficult today – a couple of reliability problems curtailed Jarno’s running, but with Heikki we completed everything we wanted to, so that’s a plus. The tyre performance is always difficult on the first day here, but especially so today, so we’ll have to see how that develops tomorrow – it could be interesting. Overall, Heikki’s performance was good, but apologies to Jarno for the issues – despite those, I’m sure we can get both cars up where we want them tomorrow.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “It was obviously a bit of a tough session out there, a dirty track and a couple of issues for Jarno, but we still showed we keep picking up speed, finishing FP2 just over three seconds off the outright pace. Both Jarno and Heikki are upbeat, and the main aim now is to bring both cars home on Sunday – if we do that I’ll be very happy.”

Ends

PUSHING ON IN CANADAN GP QUALIFYING
Montréal, Canada 12th June 2010

A superb qualifying session for Lotus Racing in Montréal saw the team pushing ever closer to the midfield, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing just two tenths off Kobayashi’s Sauber in 19th place, and Jarno Trulli just behind the Finn in 20th. The Anglo-Asian squad continued their impressive progression at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and will now be looking forward to a strong race on Sunday, aiming to have both cars finish the Canadian Grand Prix in what promises to be a very exciting race.

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01) - FP3: 16 laps, 20th, 1.19.447 / Qualifying: 19th, 1.18.237, 12 laps “I’ve felt like I've done a few good qualifying laps this year, but this one was really good. I’ve had a decent balance all weekend, and yesterday I didn’t have any problems, so I could find a good setup and had the confidence to push. We just need to find a little bit more to really take the fight to the guys in front, but tomorrow I think we can race them, I think we can have a go. I thought I had Kamui for a while, but he just got in front at the end, but you always find a little bit more when you think you can get the guy ahead and that shows how far we’ve come. Today shows we’re making progress all the time – we were only two tenths away from Sauber today which is just great for the whole team.”

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03) - FP3: 15 laps, 19th, 1.19.013 / Qualifying: 20th, 1.18.698, 11 laps “It’s been tricky this weekend as I haven’t managed to complete that many laps and haven’t been able to find a setup I’m really comfortable with. We went with the primes to begin with today, and I could see that I was close to the guys in front, so I took the gamble and went for the options at the end, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. The aim tomorrow is to finish the race, and I’m optimistic we can do that, so let’s see what I can do.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It’s been a very strong qualifying for the team today. The big question was tyre choice; both drivers did their first run on the harder tyre, and Heikki decided to stay with that, while Jarno switched to the option. I think Heikki managed to get a lot out of it, and it’s a sign of how far we’ve come that we came very close to out-qualifying one of the Saubers - it would have been another great step forward for us to beat one of the established teams in a straight fight, and we’re nearly there.

“Jarno didn’t quite get the lap time out of the option tyre on his last run, and I think we as a team have to take responsibility for that – his lack of running yesterday really hurt his chances, especially on the options, so we have to say sorry to him for that. But overall it was a great performance from the whole team. Looking at tomorrow, this is always one of the unpredictable races, so you never know, but our aim will be to get the two cars to the finish”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “It’s funny – a really good qualifying session for us, but really this weekend is all about getting cars across the finish line on Sunday. Having said that, today was another big step forward for us as we were just 2.34 seconds off the outright pace in Q1 and to be so close to a Sauber in qualifying is absolutely great, but also a bit frustrating as it would have been even better to beat an established team, and that shows just how far we’ve come in such a short time. Heikki did a fantastic job to push Kamui so hard, and Jarno also performed extremely well to stay ahead of the other new teams, particularly bearing in mind how little running he had yesterday. Tomorrow’s all about seeing the chequered flag, and that’s what we’re really focussing on, but I also think we can take the fight to the guys ahead, and I can’t wait to see how it pans out – bring it on!”

Ends