We only have a few days more before one of the most anticpated seasons in Formula 1 kicks off in Bahrain, and while the returning Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes GP Petronas will conquer the headlines alongside two-time champion Fernando Alonso (now in Schumi’s old seat in Ferrari) and the all-British world champion pairing of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, most of us will spare some attention for the Malaysian backed Lotus Racing, which has Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen as pilots. But what can we expect from the team in green at Sakhir?
Looking at the timing sheets from the official test sessions, we should be able to expect a “best of the newcomers” showing at Bahrain. At the final session in Barcelona last week, Lotus consistently put in more laps and faster times than “archrivals” Virgin Racing, which had seen a troubled start for its virtually designed VR-01. Campos, which has been renamed HRT, will not have a single lap of testing under its belt before Bahrain while USF1 is set to be a no-show.
“We have far exceeded the mileage that we thought we would do and, starting the project five months ago, the aim was to have a neat simple car that would be reliable for the first four races. It was a pretty tall order, and we’ve achieved it probably better than we expected we could.
“Three and a half seconds off the pace – that’s where we said we’d be six months ago and I think that’s where we are. We always said that the first four races were about being respectable, that level of performance and being reliable. We’ve done everything we’ve said we were going to do,” technical chief Mike Gascoyne told Autosport.
Gascoyne also revealed that the Lotus T127 will sport a major aerodynamic upgrade in time for the start of the European leg in Spain (fifth race of the season), which should bring big improvements. “Normally you are chipping away and finding tenths, but now we are looking at updates that will bring us a second,” he said. Driver Kovalainen was previously quoted as saying that aerodynamics is the T127′s biggest problem.
With the award of points now being extended to 10th place, there could be a tiny chance of Lotus snatching a point or two should a major incident happen up front or if the weather decides to play kingmaker, but for now, let’s just target seeing Sir Richard Branson serving Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak onboard AirAsia as the main prize.
Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.
first.. hehe..
boleh cayer ker?
yeah.. nasi lemak cool….
Hahaha Richard Branson serving nasi lemak…best of luck boys!!
Never give up before trying, good luck….
1ST!!!!!!!!
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!
when the car will be made in Malaysia?
oooo yeah.. i like the quote "Sir Richard Branson serving Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak onboard AirAsia as the main prize."
gud luck
1st..
Then we should see Lotus will be perform better in fifth race….y not they fix it when the car race in Malaysia….Lotus F1 2010 hometown..hehe.
Good Luck Lotus…..we support u…
Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak….that right
Hahaha..funny statement u made at the very last para there Danny. Good humor for my morning mood
go go lotus..i support u!
i'm eager to watch formula one this season!!
hahaha
good target for 1st season indeed!
haha.. i like your last sentence "Sir Richard Branson serving Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak onboard AirAsia"
all the hard work just for a second…
Just to keep things in perspective, ALL TEAMS will have a MAJOR upgrade by the Spanish race! What Gascoyne is implying is that Lotus will 'keep up' with the development race and maintain status quo not 'get ahead' in the field.
Also bear in mind it is EASIER to make up ONE second of progress when you're FOUR seconds off the pace than it is to try and make up just ONE tenth of a second when you are only FOUR tenths off the pace.
The difficulty curve is much steeper (exponential-like) as you get closer to the front pace
well, is great to watch the 1st ever malaysia owned team race,after schumacher left ferrari,still no excitement watching F1 because still havent have a team in mind to support,as a malaysian ,at least we can support Lotus f1 no matter how they do,it will be more exciting watching it then….
vrooooooooooooooom lotus f1…….
I wish A1GP would come back. It was so satisfying to support Malaysia through that and they did well too. The Sepang races were full of Malaysian supporters in the grandstands.
We just pump money & slap our names on d car the rest is all done by
d mat sallehs nothing to shout about actually, but to see Sir Richard bransen
loose d bet to us would b very interesting.
.. I hope the new Aero Package that the T127 will sport will make the car looking less conservative unlike the current one at the moment, and of course bringing it up to speed. But safe to say that the Lotus looks far better than that of the HRT team.
The Royal Academy of Proton Bashers said,
March 9, 2010 @ 9:48 am
all the hard work just for a second…
—-
Obviously you dont know what 1 second mean in F1… Teams are even scrapping over – 0.001 Cd reduction… Read Ferruccios comment after your thread… better still stop giving remarks that reveals your ignorance… better still, forget F1, watch chess or snooker… peace dude.
Go LOtus
one second is a huge improvement already. it may not seem important in our daily lives but in racing… it's monumental. just like the 100m sprint… 0.01 second is a lot too. it either makes or breaks you.
oh… before i forget… Team F1 Lotus will be the second team i'm supporting after the reds ;p
well…the bashers just dont know anything about F1. even thousands of seconds really does matter. lol.
kalau starting semua malaysia buat dalam F1 ni abes la bungkus…apala..first malaysian must belajar from this mat salleh…or become apperantice first…then after 2 or 3 year baru buat sendiri…
Should have said Richard Branson with his tight red outfit to serve teh tarik in air asia! Haha
Lotus has the best chance among the new teams to score points. But they have to work very hard for it. Good luck!
I read the interview. it seems like this car did not undergo any wind tunnel test! not even CFD I think.the design was finalized 1 month before the car goes to wind tunnel. so we can expect more than a second hopefully……
No they did have CFD + Windtunnel model testing. They would not have been able to have presented a car without it. It was done in Cologne, Germany. Aerolab/Fondtech did the windtunnel scale model test
Taka said,
March 9, 2010 @ 2:01 pm
I read the interview. it seems like this car did not undergo any wind tunnel test! not even CFD I think.the design was finalized 1 month before the car goes to wind tunnel. so we can expect more than a second hopefully……
———–
I think it was the HRT car that's not running. And the Virgin car's completely CFD, which saw their front wings failing in the 1st test.
anybody who have track/race experience know how hard it is to gain 1sec./lap from your already best laptime unless there was a major upgrade to handling/grip dept. and power train….
so far lotus achieved a respectable laptime without major incident showing their chasis has a good balance over-under steer..only not enough grip/downforce to push the car further at speed and carrying speed in cornering….might be a headache when they head for monte-carlo if the issue not corrected…..a big problem when u dont really own windtunnel facilities…
pomen_gtr,
In my view a tight track like Monaco will actually the reduce the pace deficit. It is at the high speed aero tracks that will hurt them the most. It's actually quite easy to generate downforce for any race car with wings. The difficult bit is to minimize the drag than comes with it which affects the cars top speed on straights
dammit, now the image of Sir Richard Branson wearing stewardess dress is going to stuck in my head for the rest of the day
If 4 Sec off pace per lap, 10 lap will be 40sec, 20lap will be 80sec or 1min20sec adrift. If a track require 1min19sec a lap for fastest car (like Vettel car), Lotus will be a lap behind as fast as lap20. What a shame. Better not participate until 5th race to avoid being laugh stock.
who is pak nasser?
Mysticmind, only Tony Fernandes would know – that's the name given to the nasi lemak served (or should I say sold) on AK flights
Agreed with Automotive_Critics!
During the race in Sepang, this car would be 3'44" behind the fastest car assuming both finish the race.
On average an F1 car in Sepang is around 1'36", Lotus should be behind the winner by 2 or 3 laps!
Hmmmm.
Automotive_Critics said,
March 9, 2010 @ 4:05 pm
If 4 Sec off pace per lap, 10 lap will be 40sec, 20lap will be 80sec or 1min20sec adrift. If a track require 1min19sec a lap for fastest car (like Vettel car), Lotus will be a lap behind as fast as lap20. What a shame. Better not participate until 5th race to avoid being laugh stock.
_______________________________________________________________________
Heh heh.. good observation. It's the return of F1 in the early 90s when there was regularly more teams than the were grid slots and the 107% rule ensured there was always cars that 'DNQ' I wonder how demoralizing it was to show up and miss the cut. Why bother again?
An then the pace of the back markers were sor far off that the front runners could lap them more than once! Those days the use of the term "backmarkers" were quite prominent by the commentators like Murray Walker. These days we hardly here the term mentioned. Those days backmarkers were a real pain in the rear. I don't think there were blue flags or there was no strict enforcement of it.
Backmarkers were a part of the fun factor when watching the front runners fight for the lead dicing each other. 5-6 seconds difference in the race did occur between front and back car. So 4s off for Lotus is not the worst ever
Lotus/Proton supporter, please reply in this la.
http://en.espnf1.com/lotus/motorsport/story/9874….
its worst than 2003 Minardi!
either you are the fastest… or the slowest, both serve the purpose… you'll be famous. do you remember the number 3 or number 4 in the race?
Pls dont disappoint!
the car actually looks good,hope it can get faster ,their outfit also look nice,i like the sweater they used during the recent testing,look classy
Can anybody sponsor a live telecast of Branson serving nasi lemak?
1kereta said,
either you are the fastest… or the slowest, both serve the purpose… you’ll be famous. do you remember the number 3 or number 4 in the race?
==============================================
But one should be famous for the right reasons la?
kopi-man said,
March 9, 2010 @ 9:14 pm
Lotus/Proton supporter, please reply in this la.
http://en.espnf1.com/lotus/motorsport/story/9874….
its worst than 2003 Minardi!
———–
Aiyah, 2003 aerodynamics different, engine V10, every car is worse than a 2003 Minardi la…
kopi-man said,
March 9, 2010 @ 9:14 pm
Lotus/Proton supporter, please reply in this la.
http://en.espnf1.com/lotus/motorsport/story/9874….
its worst than 2003 Minardi!
you stupid ignorance idiot…burry yourself in the grave will you…next time do your research….read this…idiot kopi-man
http://www.newsonf1.co.uk/2010/news/Mar/article_K…
i hope what ever you did in life, people say you will fail always…
idiot
help me! I want have a design drawings of ford escape 2.3. people can help me? ok? thanks!
Since the current Lotus team is a new team, the idea behind the development was to get the base or the fundamental components of the car to work properly. This is done with a fairly basic aerodynamic package. Standard "untuned" aerodynamic package so to speak. We visually notice the difference between the cars aero components and other established cars. Once the fundamentals are set, then the team will work on detailed aerodynamics, crimping out ounces of CDs out of every components.
Nowadays, every F1 team utilizes CFD and the softwares are becoming more and more accurate. Its just the order of the day. Wind tunnels are mainly used for verifying CFD simulations, pre-track tuning and maybe for some transient testings which may take too long on a computer.
Also bear in mind that another way of improving external aerodynamics is by looking at your competitors car.
haha.. Kopi-man…
Malu sendiri eh?
That were news at 1st march, and this is 9th march news… and answer the reply ppl give to you can you?
before you post it, make sure the date is tally will ya?
hahaha.. Malu sendiri…
play f1 mod (f1ctdp or f1rft2009) for rfactor… used wheel logitech g25/27 and you will know how hard it is to improve 1/100 of a sec. 1 sec is huge in any motorsports form.
p/s by the way rfactor is simulation driving software (game) used not only by average simmers like me, but also 1/4 f1 team. (rfactor pro)
sorry admin, this is for those who wanted to know what rfactor is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU3WKGQUACA
for those who wanted to know what rfactor is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU3WKGQUACA
pak nasser must be very proud
Of course la Kovalainen is going to say that it was taken out of context. He then realised that his statement could have ended his career at this team prematurely and the other teams would be reluctant to take him in for his honesty! Get it? Dumb asses!
hey, 1 second is quite alot.
i'm not aiming for them to be the 1st. heck, i'll be willing to eat my words when if i ever do see them fighting with the top dogs up front.
i never was quite optimistic about this venture, but am converted.
good luck guys.
Mentioned before but will rephrase for better clarity.
If say team ABC is 4-5 seconds off the ultimate pace, within the same set of rules (formula), trying to improve by 1 second is a lot easier then for team XYZ trying to do the same but whose initial pace was only 2 secs off the ultimate pace.
It is not a linear correlation. Though BOTH are trying to gain 1 second. XYZ's effort will have to be MORE than ABC's effort. It's in fact probably more than double of ABC.
In other words don't think that Lotus can put in the same development effort for this 1 second of improvement, again and again such that eventually they'll catch the front runners. Doesn't work that way.
It's much harder for say Ferrari to gain a 'tenth' of a second than it is for Lotus to gain a full 1 second for Bahrain. Hope that makes sense.
Thats is why Lotus saying they will update their aero and gain 1 second (from their 4 second deficit) in Bahrain is not cause for celebration in my view. It's just a sign that they're 'doing their job', 'normal expected progress' and that most importantly to note that they 'maintaining status quo'. Not falling behind nor making ground.
Remember that other teams will have bits and pieces for Bahrain too!