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Over 120,000 fans are expected on race day at Hockenheim, and, for
many of them, seeing the green and yellow Lotus Racing livery back
on track will be an emotional moment. The team itself is excited
about the next round of the 2010 FIA Formula One™ World Championship,
and is looking to build on the strong two car finish they enjoyed
last weekend at Silverstone. The layout of the track should suit the
T127 better than the flat-out dash around the Northamptonshire
countryside, and with the experience they have on both sides of the
garage, Lotus Racing is again looking forward to taking the fight to
the teams ahead.
Dieter Gass, Lotus Racing Sporting Director “We’re all looking
forward to Hockenheim. Obviously the circuit is quite different now
from how it used to be in the past - then, it was an extremely
difficult circuit on which to find a decent set up – long straights
that took you into the forest and then slow corners in the Motodrom
stadium section meant it was hard to find a suitable compromise
between downforce and grip – you don’t have to make such a big
compromise anymore because the straights simply aren’t as long now.
But, you still don’t run maximum downforce here – you take a bit of
wing off to take account of the straight, and give the driver the
chance to overtake at the end of that, in turn six.
“I think our car will suit the circuit well. You have a different
speed profile than Silverstone, which didn’t really suit our car,
but in Hockenheim I think we’ll be better off. We had a big update
package in Silverstone which we couldn’t exploit fully as we were
lacking running and setup time, so we’ll be looking to get the best
out of that in the Friday and Saturday practice sessions. We’ll be
able to play with the ballast a bit more here as well, which will
help us find a better balance, and the team have spent some time in
the factory this week practicing pitstops, so we should see the
times come down in Germany. All in all it should be a good weekend.”
Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-01) “Germany’s always a good race –
Hockenheim’s usually hot and the fans make sure there’s a great
atmosphere around the whole circuit. The stadium section in
particular is amazing – with all the horns blowing, the flags flying
and the odd flare being set off, it feels like you are in a football
stadium or something. That makes it a great place to watch from if
you’re a spectator, and for the drivers it’s cool - we can see all
the fans packed into the stands and it looks pretty hardcore.
“The circuit itself is pretty good. You can overtake at the end of
the long straight at the hairpin but there aren’t many other places
where you can get past. It’s relatively hard on tyres and in the
past the heat has made the tyres blister, but we shouldn’t get any
of those problems with this year’s tyres. Bridgestone are bringing a
super soft and a hard, so there should be a clear performance
difference between the two – we’ll see how that shapes up over the
weekend.”
Jarno Trulli (Chassis T127-04) “Hockenheim has some real history and
in its old guise it demanded a lot from the drivers, in terms of
setup, driving and in getting all the little details right. However,
now it’s a more conventional circuit, and while I like it, I
preferred the old layout. I was on the podium there a while back,
and I won the German F3 Championship there many years ago, so it
does hold a lot of good memories for me. It’s always hot when we go
there, and the fans are very passionate, so I hope we can put on a
good show for them, and show what Lotus Racing is all about.”
Riad Asmat, Lotus Racing CEO “Firstly it was great to see Fairuz in
the car in Silverstone on Friday; testing is obviously extremely
limited so it was good for him to get some experience and practice
in the car. He certainly deserved his time in the cockpit but
mechanical problems unfortunately meant he didn’t get as much track
time car as he could have – we are running him in FP1 in Hockenheim
instead of Hungary, so he’s getting another chance to show what he
can do a week early and it’ll be good to see him back on track again
in Germany.
“I was in the car with Tony on the way to Silverstone on Saturday
when he reminded me that it was at the British Grand Prix in 2009
that he first met Mike and the Lotus Racing dream began. He was
quite nostalgic and was telling me that a year ago he couldn’t drive
in certain places around the track without the sticker on his car,
whereas now he is a Team Principal he can go everywhere! Well,
almost… He has built so much out of the dreams he has pursued, with
success of course, and he believes that Lotus Racing is another
opportunity that will be a success. Last weekend was a year to the
day that this adventure began, and now we’re already looking five
years down the road and how far we can go.”
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