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Friday 25 March 2011
Nick and Vitaly kicked off their 2011
campaigns today as free practice got underway at
Melbourne’s Albert Park.
Alan Permane, Chief Engineer - Technical
programme notes
- The track was very green to begin with
and we didn’t do a great amount of running
in the first session. We used one set of
hard tyres per driver and it all went as
planned.
- We used flow viz paint on both cars to
assess the performance of the DRS (drag
reduction system). We also practiced using
KERS in both sessions.
- We ran both the hard and soft tyres in
the second session and did some high fuel
work on the soft tyre.
- We have evaluated some new aerodynamic
parts and they are performing well.
What we learned today:
- Tyres are performing better than
expected.
- High fuel running in the afternoon
confirmed that there are no concerns over
braking and cooling.
Nick Heidfeld, R31-01
Free practice 1: P12, 1:28.928, 14 laps
Free practice 2: P13, 1:27.536, 29 laps
Nick: “I think today was OK. We spent more time
than we expected working on the set-up and so we
didn’t do as many laps as we wanted. The car
felt alright, but I think we can still improve.
With the hard tyres it was quite difficult to
get enough grip, and the small problems that we
had meant I couldn’t really do a long run in the
end. Also, the wet weather conditions meant it
was not ideal to learn about the car, but I
think we’re lucky that it stayed pretty dry.
It’s still very difficult to know exactly where
we stand, but we do have a better picture than
we had yesterday.”
Vitaly Petrov, R31-03
Free practice 1: P10, 1:28.765, 15 laps
Free practice 2: P12, 1:27.528, 22 laps
Vitaly: “It’s always fun to get the season
underway. The weather was quite cold, but I
didn’t have any issues with the car during the
sessions. We did the baseline set-up work and
found some good improvements during the day and
I already feel quite comfortable with the
balance of the car here. The other good news is
that the tyres were performing well today and
lasting quite a bit longer than expected.”
Saturday 26 March It was a day of
mixed fortunes for LRGP as Vitaly qualified on
the third row, while Nick missed out on a place
in Q1 after getting caught up in traffic.
Vitaly Petrov, P6, R31-03, 1:25.212
“After all the hard work during a very tough
winter for the whole team, it feels great to
come here and qualify on the third row. There
was a lot of pressure in Q3 because I only had
one run, right at the end of the session. So
there were no second chances and I’m glad I was
able to deliver the lap. The car has felt good
right from the start of practice and we’ve
improved it constantly during each session. I
think we are in a great position for the race
and that we can fight for some points tomorrow.
I’m not too worried about the tyres because they
have been working well for us so far and we have
not seen the drop off that we saw during winter
testing.”
Nick Heidfeld, P18, R31-01, 1:27.239
“I’m disappointed to be starting the season from
so far back. It wasn’t an easy session and I had
a problem with the KERS, which meant I had to
change some settings, and that cost me one of my
timed laps. Then, there was so much traffic and
I tried to find some free space, but it didn’t
work out for me. It’s bad luck, but I must try
and put that behind me now. As we have seen with
Vitaly, the car seems to have good pace and the
race is wide open, so hopefully I can move
forward and fight for points.”
James Allison, Technical Director: “The race may
not be as frantic as we expected”
James, a mixed session for the team. What is
your verdict?
We’re all very pleased with sixth on the grid
for Vitaly, but sad for Nick that a troubled
session in Q1 saw him eliminated early on. P18
is certainly not a reflection of the pace he has
shown throughout the weekend.
Did the pace shown by Vitaly confirm what you
had seen during testing?
It was very hard to judge from winter testing
exactly where we stood in the pecking order.
However I was really pleased with the way Vitaly
improved the car steadily through the weekend
and produced really consistent results in each
part of qualifying. Still, there is a big gap to
pole position and we need to work on reducing
that.
Looking ahead to the race, what are you
expecting?
From what we could tell during the pre-season,
our car seemed to run pretty well on its tyres,
so hopefully we can make good starts with both
cars and move forward during the race. It’s too
early to have a feeling on race pace, but I
think we will be able to maintain and improve on
our qualifying competitiveness.
Will it be a race all about tyres?
So far this weekend the tyres have proved
durable and consistent – much more so than we
saw during testing – and that’s the case for
both the hard and the soft compounds. So perhaps
the race might not be quite as frantic as we
expected before we arrived here. Sunday, 27
March 2011
LRGP opened its 2011 account in fine style as
Vitaly scored his first podium in just his 20th
Formula 1 race.
• Both Nick and Vitaly adopted two-stop
strategies: soft / soft / hard
• Nick stopped on laps 15 and 30, while Vitaly
made his stops on laps 16 and 36.
• Vitaly set his best time on lap 55, while
defending his third place from Fernando Alonso
• Vitaly makes history as the first Russian to
stand on a Formula 1 podium
Vitaly Petrov, P3, R31-03
I’m delighted to be here on the podium,
especially after the winter that we had as a
team, which was very tough. Even during testing
we didn’t really know where we were compared
with the others, but we continued adding new
parts to the car this weekend, and they worked
pretty well. I made a great start today, which
was probably the key for my race because it got
me ahead of Alonso and Button, and I was able to
run in some clean air and push hard, as well as
looking after my tyres. Our two-stop strategy
was clearly the right decision and we made it
work. I have to say a big thanks to everyone in
the team for working so hard and for supporting
my over the winter. This result is for all of us
and I’m totally ecstatic.
Nick Heidfeld, P14, R31-01
Today was a tough race. I’m obviously
disappointed not to finish in the points, but it
just wasn’t possible, especially after I got hit
on the first lap. It’s a shame because I had
made such a good start from 18th to 12th by the
first corner. The damage to the car was quite
severe, mostly to the right hand bodywork,
sidepod and engine cover. So it wasn’t a strong
race for me at all. But, I’m pleased for the
team and Vitaly that we have this excellent
result today. It shows that we have a
competitive car and that we can fight hard this
year.
Eric Boullier, Team Principal and Managing
Director
The podium today is a huge relief and a big
reward for all the work which has been done by
all the team, and obviously I am very happy. It
shows that the decision we took to be aggressive
with the design of the car was the right call,
and it’s something we can build on going
forward. The performance of Vitaly was very
strong and it shows that we can deliver strong
results this season. In fact, I have no doubt
that both our drivers can be fighting towards
the front at the next race and that we can build
on the competitiveness we have shown this
weekend.
James Allison, Technical Director
I’m utterly delighted for everyone in the team
because it has not been easy getting here. I
would be lying if I said I thought we’d earn a
podium like we did today, but Vitaly’s place
looked very good in qualifying and we knew we
were competitive. We thought we were in with a
shout of a good fight with the Ferraris, and we
did exactly that. Going forward we will have
more aero updates for the car in Malaysia, which
are worth a few extra tenths. It should allow us
to build on our strong showing today.
Riccardo Penteado, LRGP Engine Support Leader,
Renault Sport F1
A fantastic result for Lotus Renault GP today
and a dream start to the season. Vitaly drove a
great race, under lots of pressure from former
world champion Fernando Alonso, but he didn’t
make a single mistake and showed that the car
has a huge amount of potential. He drove every
lap like a qualifying lap and therefore we were
a bit tight on the fuel towards the end of the
race, but both he and the team managed the
economy very well and finally it worked out how
we wanted, in fact even better, with a podium.
Nick’s race was compromised by some damage to
the car. From the engine side we’re obviously
very pleased with how it’s gone today and are
already looking forward to Malaysia.’ |
