22 February 2011

Team Lotus GP - Barcelona test 18 - 21 February 2011

Day 1

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN: "It was good to start the day with some runs on the intermediates in proper damp conditions. There wasn't a lot of standing water on the track but it was pretty damp all round - we needed to try out the inters in these conditions so we've now amassed some very useful data on those. After that we wanted to do a race distance but the gearbox problem meant we couldn't complete that part of the plan. Despite this I'm still finding that the car has good balance and is basically a decent package - we'll sort out the problems and tomorrow we'll try the race distance again and see where we are after that."

MIKE GASCOYNE, CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER: "It was a reasonably productive day although we had to stop slightly earlier than planned due to a gearbox lubrication issue. This morning we were able to run on the inters on a damp track for the first time and we have obtained some useful data from those runs. We worked through the rest of the compound choices throughout the day on high fuel loads which is helping us learn more about how to maximise the performance of the Pirellis with the car."

Day 2

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN: "I think the positive feeling with this car is growing even though we have had a couple more reliability issues today. They're all teething problems and we are patient while we fix them one by one. We'll get through this and put the reliability issues behind us as we have experienced people in the right positions who know how to deal with them. We still managed to complete a lot of work today and I can't wait to get back in the car."

RICARDO TEIXEIRA: "First I want to thank the whole team for the chance to drive again today. It was really good to be able to get some more laps done and everyone worked really hard to make me feel comfortable in and out of the car. I enjoyed myself out on track and by the third run I was able to start pushing a bit more so I think I did what I was asked to today and have taken another step forward in my development as a driver."

MIKE GASCOYNE, CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER: "That was a much more encouraging day today with 84 laps in total on the car. We did have a couple of minor issues with the fuel pressure and a water leak but overall it was a better day for reliability. We were able to give Ricardo his first proper run in an F1 car after he had helped us out in Valencia with our filming and he did just the job we wanted him to. He made no mistakes and consistently brought his lap times down on the medium tyre which I think all the teams have said is probably the slowest tyre we have. With Heikki we wanted to do a race distance which was slightly hindered by the water leak but overall we definitely made progress today."

Day 3

JARNO TRULLI: "Despite some mechanical gremlins which cut short my running time today we managed to collect some good data and overall I have a good feeling about the car. It's good to see that without doing many miles, and it being my first day in the car today on the new tyres in Barcelona, I managed to do some consistently good lap times throughout the end of the afternoon session. This morning we were running on wet and intermediate tyres and evaluating them, and working on some setup changes. All in all it's been a very positive day and it's great to see we're getting closer to the top. It gives me a lot of confidence and gives the whole team encouragement to keep pushing forward. Tomorrow we want to carry out more setup evaluation as today I didn't run that much and didn't get the chance to explore the car as I would have liked. We had a number of small problems which eventually we solved but I want to get some more mileage done as there is definitely more potential to come from the car."

MIKE GASCOYNE, CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER: "A slightly frustrating dayas our running was limited by a problem with a cracking water pipe this afternoon. We knew about the problem but did not have spare parts for it so we had to use parts repaired at the circuit. The team did a good job today to make sure Jarno could get more laps done in the dry conditions and he was fairly happy with the car by the end of the day. We also managed to do a reasonable amount of running in the wet so although it was one of those quite tough days we managed to make fairly decent progress and with new parts available tomorrow we will look to complete some more significant mileage."

Day 4

JARNO TRULLI: "It's obviously disappointing to have the test cut short like this but these things happen in motor racing. We started the day well and until the accident happened I had picked up where I left off yesterday - the car has good balance, pace we can build on and has the potential to help us take the fight to the midfield, so I'm leaving here feeling confident about the season ahead and am looking forward to the next test, wherever that will be."

MIKE GASCOYNE, CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER: "Unfortunately the day was cut short due to the accident Jarno suffered this morning at turn 9. It was not his fault - it was caused by a car failure and we were missing a part we needed to put the car back together which meant we had to cut day four short. Despite this I still think there are a great deal of positives to take from the test in terms of the pace of the car and the fact that we are on top of the reliability issues. With that in mind we leave here with work to do but still on target for where we want to be. We will wait to see where the next test will be held and with the time we now have back at the factory we will be working hard to make sure we run through our complete programme at that test."