The first round of aero upgrades introduced at the Spanish GP moved Lotus Racing slightly closer to the tail of the midfield pack, and another update for the T127 will be on board for the British GP in July, but the team is already focusing the bulk of its resources on next year’s car, according to tech chief Mike Gascoyne.
“We still have stuff coming through and there will probably be a package for Silverstone, but now we are very much concentrating on 2011,” Gascoyne told Autosport. “Next year, with the big rule changes, it levels the playing field and we need to put our resources into that. So we want to keep pushing, but we want to look at next year as well.”
With its entry only confirmed six months before the start of this season, Gascoyne admits that Lotus had to focus on just getting the car to Bahrain rather than pushing it to the design limit. And while the T127 has room for improvement, the well travelled Brit reckons that resources will be better spent on 2011 because there’s little hope of overtaking any team in the table.
“We want to get 10th (in the Constructors’ Championship) and realistically, even if we made the car better, would we get ninth or eighth? Probably not. Therefore is it worth putting resources into that, or switching them to next year? There is also the commercial aspect you want to be seen moving forward this year, but we want to take some people by surprise next year.”
He however assured that work on the current car won’t be shelved. “We are still testing in the wind tunnel and there are bits in production that are coming through, so we are not stopping now. We are also taking weight out of the car. We don’t have carbon suspension on the car, that will be coming through for Silverstone, and that will obviously carry over to next year. We are pretty happy with where we are.”
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Yes..I agree with Mike..better focus for next year car than this year.
Yes. Then FIA change the rule. kaput everything..
White flag already!! Good !!
At least finally they have come to their senses and realize that
their Cosworth package will get them no-where!! Cos-less & Worth-less !!
it’s not giving up on this year
in fact every team right about this time of the season will somehow do some development for next year car.. it’s normal in F1 nowadays.
really looking forward for confirmation on Renault costumer engine that would be use by lotus next year
Lotus and Williams are now in talk with Renault regarding the engine supply for next season
Hmmm.. but it thought the cosworth engine contract till was for 2 years?
Hmmm.. but i thought the cosworth engine contract was for like 2 years…?
Anyway, the faster they can get rid of it the better.
If you can see the last time Lotus F1 was creating glory time with Renault horses behind the wheel..
Good moves, since not much chance left for improvement for this year.
Just to tell all lotus team please switch to RENAULT engine, no point sticking for old junk Cos-not-worth..
Hopefully Lotus will grab enough attention from other foreign or middle-east based investors…
Any news on the Lotus’s developed Twin-Clutch Gearbox? Hopefully it’ll be a worthwhile or even standard in proton’s showroom’s cars….
go lotus!!
gogo monkey team! show the world what some rats from the south pacific can do!
you’re Malaysian or what? if yes than you call yourself rat?
his geography fails. the rat doesn’t come frm south pacific. kekeke… forgive him la. he isn’t frm bolehland.
And how can rats form a monkey team?
heard that lotus will replace to Renault engine..sure things will get more interesting for next season.with strong and reliable chasis this will easy for lotus to crackdown the mid pack of the team
What happened to Tony’s marketing BS talk ?
Bunch of money and time waster
They’re not closing shop! They’re saying they’ll focus more on designing next year’s car rather than upgrading this year’s car. Can’t you read?
lotus attract more sponsorship than BMW sauber and some other team lol….. and next year will be more sponsor… no business can “untung” without investment
yea more clutter on the car with ads. i wonder every sponsors pay as they put into contract or they follow precedent suit frm minardi days with the I OWE U 1ST. malaysia stylo ma “we r KLSE public listed companies u think we got no money to pay u r!”
maybe switch to Renault or Mercedes engine next year..maybe Lotus will upgrade to midfielder..
expensive la. i doubt lotus got the budget. furthermore, they have to choose to develop the car around MICHELIN or PIRELLI.
dont kacau, watching nascar and jgtc…
On Autosport, Lotus and Virgin have confirmed their commitment to continue with Cosworth. ALL the 4 Cosworth powered teams have said once again that they are happy with the Cosworth package. Good power, good economy, fair durability at FAIR COST. The only issue right now is the higher than expected power degradation after substantial mileage. No F1 engine is perfect and Cosworth is addressing the issue.
If you have to choose a ‘problem’ it is better to have power degradation than an engine that can’t even finish the expected mileage (blow up) like some of the front runners ie. Ferrari is experiencing. Problem can be fixed and there will always be problems discovered in F1. Even the front teams have problems.
We need to stop blaming Cosworth for the lack of pace of the new comers. Their aero packages are more to blame for the pace deficit. The pace of an F1 car is down to the whole ‘package’ and the engine is just one part of the package.
Lotus Racing is doing the right thing in my view by focusing most of their current resource on the 2011 car instead. They know how much more pace they can try an extract from the current car for this year. Its a question of resource (money). Would it be better to spend that money on 2010 or 2011 car. Which would yield better results for the team.
At the moment it looks like its better spent for next year because the 6 month short pre-season prep window, the aero package is very crude and a lot of resource would be needed to extract more pace. Even then can they actually ‘overhaul’ one of the established teams? Not that likely.
So better to spend the money to start from a clean slate. This is a learning year for them and data collection for next year’s car
Read the article.
Good point here.
FIA Technical Working team also hasn’t finalise the rules for next yr. how Lotus can develops the car for next year. next year rumours to be front wing not adjustable but the rear wing does, no more diffuser and KERS return. tyres design also change. how Lotus can predict the future?? with technical input frm Lilian Too or Joey Yap???
don’t know wat malaysian owners have brainwashed a brits into thinking.
Honda did it in 2008 when the rules weren’t final yet and as Brawn they won the championship.
yeah Brawn wif his controversial double diffuser but without the KERS when it was optional.
next yr is totally a whole new game plus new tyre suppliers.
i think now they just got what the best thing they wanna do.
This is all wishful thinking.
If you cannot perform now then don’t bother telling us that
next year will be better !!
If you cannot deliver the goods then just ship out !!
this is what we call planning for the future lah dol
better start design, wind tunnel testing and all of sort of development now rather than wait for the end of this season and then kelam kabut akhir tahun baru nak design kereta, testing dan sebagainya..
tak macam tipikal malaysian mentality yang suka buat kerja last minit
benda simple macam ni pun tak boleh nak pikir ke
LOL
Since Malaysians need to wait until 2011, dont pay any of them salary .. see if they are still as “committed” … all rubbish talk
Dr M will be FUMING mad with this bunch of clowns putting SHAME to LOTUS brands.
Hey TONY ! …. Never take part in F1 if didnt do homework !
Teams often do this when their performance isn’t good. Back in 2008, Honda slowed development of their 2008 car to focus on their 2009 car. Look what happened to them the next year. Although the name was changed to Brawn, their car was the champion. Ferrari too did the same in 2005 I believe, and in 2006 they came within a whisker of the championship compared to the dismal 2005 season. Focusing on next year’s car right away gives them the time needed to properly develop the car to perform. F1 cars aren’t designed on a paper napkin, you know!
somehow we got a bet wif VIRGIN RACING. Lotus already throw in the towel d.
Slow because of the fugly stickers on the car
at first, i thought the cosworth engine are more reliable than the renault engine.. coz i don’t really like renault engines.. but infact the cosworth engines are totally rubbish.. the renault engine are become more reliable than before.. it helps the redbull team became dominance on tis year..
Redbull’s dominance is mainly due their aero, designed by the genius Adrian Newey
well said. Adrian Newey. the man who brought Renault so many constructor titles in the 90s.
good decision, instead of focus on current t-127 which looks like have some room for improvement, better focus on t-128, and something that will b foundation for this car
waiting for Proton to announce that they would be taking full ownership of the team hehehe :P ….
anyway the current contract with Cosworth is not that easy to be nullified..unless you have money that is…money can always break contracts….not to mention they also have contract with XTRAC which is providing them the gearbox…
and i’m not surprised at all Lotus is the best of the pack..they’re the one with the most money here…the other 2 teams almost were not run by the actual people who applied for the F1 entry anymore…..and of course sponsors would come to Lotus since if you read anywhere on official F1 website, it was mentioned that the Lotus team is a Malaysian Govt backed team so it should be the most stable out of the 3 financially….
malaysia gov back with our taxpayer money ma so bottomline means each of us who are paying taxes in 2008/2009 are stakeholders.
So, free tee shirts for every rakyat?
Actually not in the way that you’re implying. You can say that Malaysians have stake in the team but in much the same way that Malaysians have a ‘stake’ in MercedesGP because Petronas is a govt linked entity.
Reality is the govt is not pumping any money into Lotus Racing
ALL the 4 Cosworth powered teams have said once again that they are happy with the Cosworth package. Good power, good economy, fair durability at FAIR COST.
– if i understand this correctly they are looking for something CHEAP doesnt matter the power and durability………..zzz
suka hati la………..I pun tak minat kat Lotus….Whatever la…..
Say whatever you want, Tony……I tengok muka you pun dah boring….
FYI Cosworth are working hard at improving their engine’s weaknesses. Driveability and degradation are among the areas.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83855
So what happens half way through next year’s season? Forget it and focus on 2012? Nice!
1. How and why do you think Brawn GP won the 2009 championship? What did Honda do in early 2008?
2. What did Ferrari do last season?
Plenty of other examples.
When Lotus tries to cleverly manage their resource just like others had done, is it judged as ‘wrong’. Is it because it’s Lotus/Tony? Would it be judged differently if it was McLaren or Ferrari? All of whom at some point have done the same?
Its a logical decision. And they’re not giving up for this season. They’re still aiming to be the best of the new teams. Putting in just enough resources for this season to ensure that is achieved, just as how Brawn GP put in ‘just enough’ for 2009 in-season development to make sure they had enough to win championship while focusing on their 2010 car.
READ the article to understand their position in its entirety.
Longer article here http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83739
Ferrari had done it. Is it still wrong? :-)
Teams without huge budgets need to focus and prioritize. Teams with big budgets can afford to simultaneously develop this year’s and next year’s cars. But realistically, only Ferrari & McLaren can afford that. Even Renault doesn’t run on deep pockets. Mr. Ghosn wouldn’t allow it. :-)