[F1] Lotus F1 Racing

lotusien a écrit:

Venom a écrit:Par contre, je ne comprends pas pourquoi ils ont remis l'ancien capot moteur (au moins depuis le Brésil)
https://i.servimg.com/u/f39/14/79/55/26/l2_bmp10.jpg

J'avoue que je n'avais pas fais attention, les évolutions étant figées depuis Monza.
J'ai donc regardé de plus près et rapidement ce qui donne :
Singapour : ancien capot, "nouvel" aileron AR avec mat central
Suzuka : nouveau capot, aileron avec mat
Corée : nouveau capot, aileron avec mat en course, avec et sans mat testés lors des essais sur les 2 voitures
Brésil : ancien capot, aileron avec mat
Abu Dhabi : ancien capot, aileron avec mat

Je ne sais pas non plus pourquoi ils reviennent parfois à l'ancien capot, je ne vois pas de corélation avec le type de circuit

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E 14th November 2010

Lotus Racing secured its primary goal of tenth place in the 2010 FIA Formula One™ World Championship when Heikki Kovalainen finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 17th place. Jarno Trulli’s race came to an unfortunate end on lap 51 and finished in the garage after his car suffered a rear wing failure with just three laps left.

Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-03) 17th, fastest lap 1.45.378: “What a fantastic end to our season. The race itself was just great, right from when the lights went out. I got the best start of the season, made up places immediately and from that point on I just got my head down and got on with it. Everything went perfectly according to plan. The tyres weren’t really degarding and as the car got lighter and the fuel burnt away I was able to keep putting in what felt like qualifying laps throughout the whole race. I was able to pull away a gap to the cars behind me and we managed the traffic really well all race. After I came out of the pits I had to let a few cars past which cost me several seconds, but that wasn’t a problem as I could keep pulling away from my direct rivals. This is the perfect way to end our first season, and gives us a huge boost for next year. We finished on a high, achieved all our goals and we have a very exciting future ahead of us. Thank you to the whole team for a fantastic season – I can’t wait for next year.”

Jarno Trulli (Chassis T127-02) DNF, fastest lap 1.45.979: “First of all congratulations to the whole team. Everyone has done an amazing job this year and while it’s been long and tough, for a brand new team it’s been special. My race was one of the ones I’ll want to forget. I had a problem with the front wing to begin with, and then a rear wing failure finished the race so I’m pretty glad it’s over! This year I’ve had all sorts of bad luck but I’m very confident about next year as the package that’s been put together is very good and it gives everyone in the team a chance to take the next step forward.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “Job done. When we started out on this project the first target was to be best of the new teams. When you think how late our entry was confirmed that was always going to be a good challenge, but we have done it. We gave Tony, Din and Nasa tenth place and that makes me very proud of the whole team. On a personal level I’d like to thank my partner Silvi. We did this together and I could not have done it without her or the whole team. However, this is just the beginning. Next year what is important is the steps we take forward, but for tonight we will enjoy the achievement. We have earned it.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “I am completely relieved, completely ecstatic, completely happy and completely vindicated in making the decision to go into F1™. What we have achieved today is what dreams are made of. To complete 19 races after having just five months to build a car and finish in tenth in style is something that is truly magical. It shows you that even in the modern age where money and power counts for so much, there is a chance for ambition and dreams to shine. 2010 is a year that we can be proud of. We brought Lotus back into F1™™ after many had talked about it, but we did it. I can confidently say that everyone associated with the Lotus history can be very proud of what we have done this year. This is the first chapter of a long career ahead and we will create our own future, destiny and history from here. I am thankful to all the incredibly special staff we have in Hingham, Malaysia and here in Abu Dhabi for what they have done this year and my abiding memory of 2010 comes from one of our engineers, who told me he had achieved higher grid positions with other teams, but never with a team that feels as special as this. To all the Lotus fans thank you so much for your support – we could not have done it without you. I am thrilled that Lotus Racing has opened up F1™™ to everyone out there, and we cannot wait to see you next year.”


Ends

ABU DHABI YOUNG DRIVER TEST DAY ONE
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E 16th November 2010

The sound of Formula One™ engines returned to Abu Dhabi today as Lotus Racing’s young driver test began with Venezuela’s Rodolfo González at the wheel of chassis T127-03. After a full day in the cockpit Rodolfo completed 83 laps with a best time of 1.44.924.

Rodolfo González: “What an incredible day. As I pulled out for my first lap I could not believe I was finally at the wheel of a Formula One™ car. Since I started karting at the age of five it has been my dream to get behind the wheel of an F1™ car and today it came true. It has been 18 years of hard work and sacrifice to reach this point and I want to say thank you to Lotus Racing for giving me this opportunity. I have been preparing for today for a long time and even though I completed 83 laps to be honest I am surprised I lasted that long – after 30 laps I was already feeling it and by the 82nd lap my neck was beginning to suffer so I thought it was time to stop. That is normal for anyone who makes the step up to F1™ but I am really pleased with how the whole day went.

“Since I arrived here the whole team has been just great. They have all given me real confidence and said I did not have to try to impress anybody, you have already impressed people anyway so just do a good steady job and you will be fine. Mike Gascoyne told me today was not about proving I am ready for F1, but it would show if I am not ready so I just wanted to do the most intelligent job I could. I have learnt a huge amount over the last couple of days and tomorrow I hope I can continue to progress on track and put in another good performance.”

Jody Egginton, Chief Race Engineer: “Rodolfo did a good job for us today. He gave good, clear feedback, took a measured approach and spent the right amount of time learning his way around the car. This morning he drove steadily and started picking his pace up this afternoon when we moved to some more performance biased runs. The fuel loads and setups he was running would compare with a normal Friday at a race weekend, so he had the experience of both high and low fuel and a range of run types. He worked well with the engineers all day and studied the data in depth so I think for his first time in an F1™ car he has done a pretty decent job overall.”
Ends

ABU DHABI YOUNG DRIVER TEST DAY TWO
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E 17th November 2010

Day two of the Abu Dhabi young driver test for Lotus Racing started with Rodolfo González back at the wheel of chassis T127-03, and Bulgaria’s Vladimir Arabadzhiev in the seat for the afternoon session. In the morning Rodolfo completed 44 laps with a best time of 1.44.312 and in the afternoon Vladimir ran for 49 laps, recording a quickest time of 1.45.723.

Rodolfo González: “It was good make some more progress today and I was getting quicker every time I went out on track. I was still running with a reasonable amount of fuel and I’m happy with the job I did today as I think I reacted well to the changes that we made, and the instructions I was given by the team. I want also to say thank you again to Lotus Racing for giving me this opportunity. I have really enjoyed it and have definitely learnt a huge amount over the last few days.”

Vladimir Arabadzhiev: “First of all I want to say thank you for this great opportunity which Lotus Racing gave me. It was an unbelievable experience to drive an F1™ car – the first time I went out was just fantastic. The feeling of the acceleration and the braking are phenomenal and I enjoyed every second. Unfortunately I only had half a day in the car which isn’t quite enough time to really start building up experience, but I still think I did quite well with the laps I had and with the red flags we had in the session. Quite often people try too hard to impress in these sorts of sessions, pushing too hard and making mistakes, and I’m glad I didn’t do that. Finally, the whole experience today was just great – seeing how such a well organised team like Lotus Racing works has been amazing and thanks to everyone again for making it such a good day.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “Firstly we would like to thank both Rodolfo and Vladimir for doing such a good job for us in their first time in a Formula One™ car. Their input with the team has been exactly what we wanted and they have both done a fantastic job working exactly to the programme we set them. Most importantly neither driver made any mistakes and they both gave us very impressive feedback which is what we need from them in this type of test.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Bridgestone on their last day of running with us. They have been an incredibly important partner of ours this year as we brought Lotus back to Formula One™ and we have all enjoyed working with them throughout this season. Whatever the future holds for Bridgestone in motorsport we look forward to working with them again one day and wish them the very best of luck in all their future endeavours, on and off track.”
Ends

ABU DHABI TYRE TEST - PIRELLI RETURNS TO F1™
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E - 19th November 2010

Pirelli made its official return to Formula One™ today as the last two days of track action of the 2010 season began at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Lotus Racing’s Heikki Kovalainen was in chassis T127-02 for the first day of the official two day tyre test and rolled out of the garage early on Friday morning on the first ever set of Pirelli tyres mounted in the modern F1™ era. Over a busy day on track he completed 88 laps with a best time of 1.44.686.

Heikki Kovalainen: “It’s good to welcome Pirelli back into our sport and we had a good day on track, completing the whole programme and the balance of the car felt very comfortable all day. Honestly, I would like to drive the car again tomorrow but now we have a long break until testing starts again in a couple of months and I can’t wait to get back in the car next year.”

Mike Gasocyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer: “An interesting and very useful first day of testing with Pirelli. We had no mechanical issues on the car and managed to complete our full programme in 88 laps. The car was ballasted up to the 2011 weight limit for the day and we ran a series of fundamental tests within the parameters we could change with the tyres and in the afternoon we found some clear and useful setup directions for the engineers to work on. We set our quickest lap of the day at the end of the session on a pretty worn set and all of the data gives us very useful information that we will carry over to tomorrow when Jarno is back in the car for his first taste of the new Pirelli tyres.”
Ends

ABU DHABI TYRE TEST DAY TWO
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E - 20th November 2010

The final day of on-track action of the 2010 season saw Lotus Racing’s Jarno Trulli enjoy his first taste of the new Pirelli tyres at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. As the whole paddock was busy packing up to head home for the winter break Jarno completed a total of 83 laps, recording a quickest time of 1.44.521.

Jarno Trulli (Chassis T127-02): “It’s been a very positive day. It was good to try the Pirelli tyres for the first time and while we have obviously got a lot of work ahead of us I think this was a good start. We will need to focus on the driveability of the tyres – on performance they were good, but we will need to work together in a clear direction to maximise the handling of the car. The hard compounds were pretty consistent, a little less so with the softs, but we have gathered a lot of data that will play an important part in the development of next year’s car. Now the season is over I want to thank the whole team for their work this year – we have finished where we wanted to be and everyone in the team has played their part in helping us reach our goals, so thank you to them and the fans for everything this year.”

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer: “Another successful day for us and a successful conclusion to both the test with Pirelli and the year in general. My thanks to Jarno for his work today – he gave us some excellent feedback which will give us valuable data for the development of the 2011 car. As this is the last run for the T127 I also want to thank the whole team for all their efforts in what has been a fantastic year and thank all our fans for giving us such great support throughout the season. Now we look ahead to 2011 and we are all excited about taking the next step forward with the new package in what is certain to be another very exciting chapter in our story.”

Lotus Racing now head home to take some well earned rest after an incredible season in Formula One™ in which the Anglo-Malaysian squad achieved its primary goal of finishing as best of the new teams. A busy winter beckons preparing for the 2011 season, but for now it is goodbye to the FIA Formula One™ World Championship 2010.
Ends

2011 FIA Formula One World Championship 30/11/2010
No. Driver Team Constructor

RENAULT F1 TEAM (FRA) Renault
9 Robert KUBICA (POL)
10 TBA

TEAM LOTUS (MAL) Lotus Renault
20 Jarno TRULLI (ITA)
21 Heikki KOVALAINEN (FIN)

Lotus racing: thank you

And so ended our first season in Formula One™, and what a year it’s been!
I am tremendously proud of coming tenth in the 2010 Constructors’
Championship. I am also overwhelmed by the level of goodwill and support
shown to Lotus Racing during its début season - not just from those who
can remember the glory days of Team Lotus, but from a new breed of young
fans who identify with who we are... And not just from the traditional F1™ fan
base, but from across the entire world. To all of you - thank you for the tre-
mendous support you have given us this season and you give us the power
and drive to do better and go further.
But as they say - the honeymoon is now over. Whilst people have been
kind to us when we’ve suff ered frustrating mechanical failures or other
teething troubles in our first season, expectations are now raised to a new -
and less forgiving - level.
The paradigm of being “the best of the new teams” is no longer a suff icient
accolade - our ambition is to be ranked up there with the other midfield
runners, regularly scoring points in both the drivers’ and Constructors’
Championships. So is the habit of going out qualifying in Q3. This is some-
thing we want to replace with a strong Q2 qualifying performance, so we
can really begin to be in the thick of it - right from the start of each race.
But above all - it’s you, the fans, who will be our ultimate judges as we embark
on the next step in this great adventure, now racing under the iconic name
of Team Lotus. Thank you for being there for us from the beginning and, with
your continued support, I know that we will achieve great things together in
the future. Remember this moment; it is now that we begin a new legacy,
and thank you for being a part of it.
Tony Fernandes