1 March 2012.
Lotus F1 Team returned to the track today
for the first of four days testing at the
Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain.
Romain Grosjean took the wheel of the modified
E20 completing 73 laps and setting the fastest
time of the day.
Fast facts:
Track: Barcelona, Spain, 4.7km
Chassis: E20-01
Weather: Sunny, air 8-16°C, track 16-35°C
Programme: System checks, temperature monitoring,
data correlation, aero-focused runs, set-up
changes
Laps Completed: 73
Classification: 1st, 1’23"252
Interruptions: KERS battery change
What’s next? Romain will be back in the car
tomorrow running through a programme of set up
work in the morning followed by race work in the
afternoon.
Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 Team Race Driver: “The
car was feeling very good and it’s great to
bounce back from our dramas to set the fastest
time of the day. It’s clear we have solved the
problem we encountered and now we have to
complete a very full test programme this week.
The feeling in the team is fantastic and it’s
like last week’s issues never happened. My crew
told me that the problems would make us stronger,
and this is true. The chassis is stronger, and
all the team is stronger. We gathered good data
today and we have a few interesting things that
we would like to confirm tomorrow which should
help us make a good step forwards.”
James Allison, Technical Director: “Our main
target for today was to compress as much set-up
work as we could into the first day as we are
playing catch-up relative to our rivals at this
track. Of course, we want to complete as many
laps as possible, but this second objective is
inevitably compromised somewhat by needing to
make many short runs punctuated by set-up
changes. Obviously, we’re very pleased to
complete the day without any major difficulties
to the car after such a troubled start here last
week.”2 March 2012.
Lotus F1 Team went fastest and one lap shy of
furthest in the second test day of four at the
Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona. Romain
Grosjean completed a mammoth 124 laps – almost
600 km - including a race distance simulation.
He ended the day with a 1min 22.614secs lap –
the fastest by over half a second.
Fast facts:
Track: Barcelona, Spain, 4.7km
Chassis: E20-01
Weather: Sunny, air 8-21°C, track 9-30°C
Programme: System checks, temperature monitoring,
data correlation, aero-focused runs, set-up
changes, race distance run.
Laps Completed: 124
Classification: 1st, 1’22"614
Interruptions: Unscheduled bodywork change
What’s next? Kimi Räikkönen will get behind the
wheel for the final two days at Barcelona.
Tomorrow he will work on set-up including
evaluating a new aero package.
Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 Team Race Driver:
“I’m very happy with the car, and it was great
that we could still run strongly at the end of
the session, even after a long stint. At the
start of the day we suffered slightly with tyre
degradation, but we changed a few things and
this improved as the day went on. Today was the
first race distance I’ve completed in a long
time and I’m feeling pretty good. No doubt my
neck will be a little sore tomorrow, but the
rest of me is fine!”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“All in all it’s been a good day. The E20 was
once again very reliable, and we completed a lot
of laps. Romain wasn’t particularly happy with
the car first thing this morning, but we
steadily improved it over the day. In the
afternoon we completed a full race distance
including pit stops. We then went for a couple
of setup runs at the end as we had a bit of time
left over which was an unexpected surprise. Tyre
performance looks good; in particular during the
last stint we used a set of hard tyres and
managed around 27 laps with very low levels of
degradation which is encouraging.”
3 march 2012
Lotus F1 Team had a curtailed day of testing.
Power steering issues in the morning and rain in
the afternoon limited track time for Kimi
Räikkönen to 43 laps.
Fast facts:
Track: Barcelona, Spain, 4.7km
Chassis: E20-01
Weather: Sunny, air 10-19°C, track 11-24°C
Programme: System checks, temperature monitoring,
data correlation, set-up changes.
Laps Completed: 43
Classification: 10th, 1’25"379
Interruptions: Power steering investigation and
steering rack change.
What’s next? Kimi Räikkönen will complete the
final day of pre-season testing working on
set-up work and a race simulation.
Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus F1 Team Race Driver:
“It was good to get in the E20 after missing
testing last week. We had an issue with the
power steering in the morning then we didn’t run
in the wet, so it was quite a short time for me
in the car today. At least we got some runs. The
car was reliable when on track meaning we gained
some good data for the team. Hopefully the
weather will be better tomorrow and we can
complete more laps.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“Aside from the time we lost early on it was
clear that we were running a different programme
from the other teams today. We were hampered by
power steering issues in the morning, which took
some time to rectify. Once on track, we steadily
improved the car balance through the day. We
opted not to run in the rain which meant we
completed fewer laps today than would otherwise
have been the case.” 4 March 2012
Lotus F1 Team finished their pre-season testing
with Kimi Räikkönen setting the fastest time of
the day at the Circuit de Catalunya near
Barcelona today. Kimi’s 1min 22.030secs lap was
the fastest set over the two weeks testing at
the 4.7 km circuit. He also completed the
furthest distance today, with 121 laps.
Fast facts:
Track: Barcelona, Spain, 4.7km
Chassis: E20-01
Weather: Sunny, air 9-20°C, track 11-24°C
Programme: System checks, temperature monitoring,
aero evaluation, set-up changes, race distance
run.
Laps Completed: 121
Classification: 1st, 1’22"030
Interruptions: Red flag in the afternoon.
What’s next? The team will head to Melbourne,
Australia for the season-opening Australian
Grand Prix on March 18.
Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus F1 Team Race Driver:
“I was happy with today’s running. We didn’t
have any major issues so it was certainly better
than yesterday. Everything worked, we tried a
lot of set-ups on the car and it all came
together well. It was a long time in the car
today but I feel fine. It was cooler today so
the tyres didn’t work as well as otherwise but
everything was okay. Of course, the fastest time
at the end of the day looks good but no-one will
know how fast any of the cars are until we get
to qualifying at Albert Park. All the changes we
have made over testing have been improving the
car, so we’ll have to see what happens in
Melbourne in a couple of weeks’ time. I’m
feeling positive.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“We’ve had a good, productive day to conclude
our pre-season test programme. After the
interruptions of yesterday we made some set-up
changes overnight which immediately made Kimi
feel more comfortable in the car as the balance
was much more to his liking. We then spent the
rest of the morning running on medium and then
soft tyres, steadily improving the car. Despite
having missed a test we are in good shape
heading to Melbourne. We’ve completed two race
distances and the E20 has proved reliable, easy
to set-up and predictable in its handling with
both drivers reporting they are happy.”
Eric Boullier,Team Principal:
"After the disappointment of last week, this
test was crucial and I think we did a good job.
First of all, we’ve been able to confirm that
the changes made to the car fixed our front
suspension problems. We were confident that the
redesign was well conceived and well executed,
but we have demonstrated the integrity of the
modified part. It is a tribute to the all team,
which has been working amazingly hard over the
last few days in order to fly the E20 on time to
Barcelona. Despite the rain and a few technical
glitches, we managed to learn more about the new
car. We now have a better understanding of it,
and have a few positive setup directions that we
can take further. Moreover, both drivers seem
happy with the balance and tyre degradation. We
are cautiously optimistic for the future and now
looking forward to Melbourne." |
