The Formula 1 circus has just wrapped its official test sessions at the Jerez circuit in Spain. On Lotus Racing’s first official outing reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy settled for 11th place with 1:31.848. The only driver who was slower than that time was Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock. The next day the steering wheel was handed over to Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn only managed to complete 30 laps before crashing out after exiting Turn 2 and 3.
No parts where available at the time so the team had to concentrate on other aspects of the car which did not require driving. Luckily for the team parts arrived in time for the team’s third official test day. Kovalainen managed 1:33.554 which put him in 12th, slowest of all. The former McLaren driver also revealed that the Lotus Cosworth T127 car is suffering from downforce issues.
“I think the main issue is the downforce. We have not been able to develop the aero package as we should have. We had five months to build the car and everything’s been a bit conservative. Before they started to design the car, they had no information about the engine, so cooling and everything is quite conservative,” said Kovalainen. He also added that the team should be able to rectify the issue.
On the final day of testing in Spain Jarno Trulli stepped in. The Italian clocked in a total of 141 laps, the most Lotus Racing has accomplished since it started the tests in Jerez. The lap time dropped to 1:23.470 but that was the slowest time of the day and it was almost five seconds behind the fastest time set by Jenson Button in his McLaren.
All Formula 1 teams (the ones that have launched their cars that is) are still in the testing phase and cars should be improved further. The teams will now head to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona to continue testing on February 25th.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Hmmm.. long way for the team..
As long as they finished the race ahead of new teams.. i would be happy..
No high expectation..
at least the car is reliable enough to complete 141 laps..
from the beginning i saw the lotus f1 car, i know they will have a lack of down force..the car aero-package looks like back in year 2000..flat, big..i'm a bit worried about the engine cover, looks like too much space inside..consider a larger fuel tank..compare to the virgin racing..how about u guys?..correct me if i'm wrong..hehe..
hope they manage to solve aerodynamic & spare part problem… other think can improve more….
padan muka………
better luck next outing
Trulli are real fast when qualifying all the while, But now he is last, so the car
is a real JOKE……It is a shame to see Malaysia team at the back each race!!!!!
I think there is a different between making a long run and short sprint. Lotus was doing just that, drive consistently over more than 140 laps. They must have had more fuel in the car compared with other teams. But I do think it was still a tad slow.
I also think that Button was just showing off yesterday, to remind others he was the reigning world champ.
shame shame shame….downforce?or just your skills sucks big time?
looks like they have their work cut out for them in the coming season!
maybe we'll just wait and see..
Looking at their performance in testing so far, I would conclude that they are exactly where they're expected to be which right at the back of the field with the nearest rival being Virgin. That will be the only team they can hope to fight against plus USF1 and Campos(or whoever is taking their slots).
Being right at the back is no surprise. Anyone faced with the same circumstances would be exactly in the same spot.
However I don't see it as a dissapointment for us all because if you understand enough about how F1 works you know they're going to be last and you know the first season for them is more for learning and you can forget about results this season. Season 2010 for them is a 'write-off' in terms of results.
What would be important and more interesting to watch would be how they try to improve themselves, all aspects – car, team, drivers and then see how they apply themselves in preparation for 2011. If there is no measurable improvement for 2011, the odds are higher that they are a lost cause and are unlikely to be around for long.
I agree with the technical approach they have taken for this season which is to be conservative in the car's design and focus more on reliability. Finish ALL races. If they can do that I would consider their 2010 season a reasonable success.
never thought they will finish fastest…yet,5 months..u get what u pay.they will never give the best design unless you pay the highest :p
The team has to work on the design of the T127 for sure, it looks rather outdated and lacking in sophistication or innovation. As shown in the tests, there's insufficient downforce and more weight had to be cut out.
Nevertheless, its a new team who only had 5 months to set up everything and build a car, so they still have a steep learning curve to overcome. Who knows, we might see an aero update for the next and final test in Barcelona, provided the factory can design and manufacture parts in time.
even ferrari cant win anything till schumy came in rite..so keep learning and improve..finger cross for lotus!..
The car is indeed lacking downforce. Overall is it quite a conservative package, especially at the sidepods, understandable though due to the time they had to get it all together. A conservative design has it's advantages though, and that is seen in it's reliability compared to the fully-CFD developed Virgin VR-01.
Lame excuses one after another…
Hahaha.
I hate to say this, but I was right all along!
Albeit of all the the praises and criticisms, let's just see where each team is on the next test session. As Harvinder has mentioned it before, there are just too many variables to indicate their real performance at this stage.
Plus, there are change of rules this season which emphasizes strategy, reliability and fc rather than just outright seconds per lap. Let's just see how they perform in Bahrain.
Finger crossed for Lotus Racing.. ;)
blablablahblahblahblahh….
all i can say is an F1 team is also as good as its technical team… LotusF1 cant afford Ross Brawn or Adrian Newey… so what do we all expect?…. Being a glorified BACKMARKER!!!….
Mike Gascoyne is Mike Gascoyne…. he will not be able to come up with anything faster than what McLaren, Ferrari or RedBull have… he may be a good designer but in F1 terms that's just not good enough to win races…
it's okay… it's TuneGroup's & Naza's money they are blowing away… plus all those sponsoring LotusF1… not 1Malaysia money (or issit?)…
ahhahahahahahahha….. its gonna be a good F1 circus this year…
Doesn't matter if lotus is slow, as a Malaysian I'm already feel so proud that we are in f1 , esp for fairuz , really proud of u . At least he didn't crash the car
it's ok lotus,please prove to us that you can do better than this in Bahrain.at least not the last
they just can bring back the name of lotus
but not the history of glory unless they recticy and improve all the lackness before coming bahrain.Because we cant stand to watch F1 without lotus team
and shout horray for others rival
im jus hoping that ppl wrent actually expecting anyting higher….new team,short on time,probably short on funds,wat else do u expect seriously ?
its good enough ,but thy mus improve as the season progresses and not jus stand still….
Owh,suddenly all know that the car has downforce problem,good,so can anybody here design an f1 car in less than 5 months,even a normal car takes about 2 years.apart of the downforce problem,we should consider the engine too.as you all already know,both virgin and lotus use the same engine,and both end up at the bottom.
u can tell this car is slow by just looking at it. just compare it with the others. gud luck lotus. malaysia boleh!
SY0H said,
February 21, 2010 @ 1:35 pm
Lame excuses one after another…
Hahaha.
I hate to say this, but I was right all along!
__________________________________________________________________
Anyone who did not expect this team to be last or near last is delusional. I hope you were not one of them.
Compete for the last place also considered as 'competition' by Lotus standard… so no surprise for that result…
The pressure is on Gascoyne.
keep learning..
atleast we malaysian had a team to look forward too… btw its surely look nice if proton+R3 comeout with neo limited editions of the Lotus F1 ( the bobypaint works+bodykit+performance tweak aka @turbo).
few facts we found:
1) F1 is really burning money activities, and would like to see how long Tony can stand…probably in his mind "what, crashing a car during practice?"
2) How serious are we in F1, and what is the purpose? – The car will not able to finish any race. Period. You hear me now. So the 1Malaysia tag will not even able to show in the TV race…like we use to watch, how many times did the last car is being shown? so this marketing staff just wont work for Malaysia. Petronas is probably laughing and felt lucky they not being conned into this national advertising scheme. Let's see how many times 1Malaysia we can see in the TV.
3) I think the people under estimate the F1 competitiveness where they think just bring a car in will do. Thats why those "don't know what engine", "conservative aerodynamic" design comes. It is like asking you to buy a shirt for a friend without know his size, so just get a "M" or "L" but infact, he is wearing XXL.
It is so scary to hear the comment "see how Lotus improve themselves down the road"..
I mean, 20 years we cannot improve the power windows…F1? mmh…god blessed us.
It's truly another white elephant project for Proton to burning $$…and where did proton get the subsidiary? oh…i forget..
oh no, looks like malaysia is going to eat virgin's dust.
i hope our team have some great mechanical engineers to settle that aerodynamic issue and optimize the car structure.
hey..take the stolen jet engine and put inside the T127..
every race will win..come on mr.tony..do something
just wait and see
give them more time…
just like our national service which took less than 3 to 6 months to set up, this F1 thing is more or less the same, why can't the gov wait for the 2011 race? slow and steady win the race.
p.s. With najib's luck, i bet someone is gonna get killed in this F1 thing due to bad preparation.
Ken said,
February 21, 2010 @ 1:55 pm
Doesn’t matter if lotus is slow, as a Malaysian I’m already feel so proud that we are in f1 , esp for fairuz , really proud of u . At least he didn’t crash the car
——————————————————
What to be proud of ?
By not crashing ?
what we want is results
no point finishing the race as a back marker
In F1 winning is what matters
Nobody gives a hoot about who comes in 9th or 15th
Lotus is just a tuner,
If you can't perform then ship out !!
that's more shame toyota in F1, the none archiever in at least 5 years. what a super shame.
The LotusTeam just enter, only 5 month to develope current car, so what do you expect? Meanwhile, virgin's car look better far away, but they also fail in aero! because they not use wind tunnel and only use simulation something.
Curvy design and look good still doesn't mean it had a good aerodynamic thingy. It's not as simple as that.
LF1T will improved in 2nd and 3rd year of running.
but that if they can last that long. :D
Lotus will have a difficult season.
If they cannot come up with results, Tony
will have a major task finding sponsors
cos without them … no way the Lotus team can progress.
Petronas must be smiling for not going with Team Lotus :)
p1basher said,
February 21, 2010 @ 4:23 pm
oh no, looks like malaysia is going to eat virgin’s dust.
i hope our team have some great mechanical engineers to settle that aerodynamic issue and optimize the car structure.
__________________________________________________________________
Errkk?? Mechanical engineers to settle aerodynamic issues?? No wonder fail!
Other teams use their aerodynamicists to sort our aero issues not mechanical engineers
do not start/mention any political ideology here please..
some rightful twats in here today
Belum apa-apa dah kutuk…. tak guna betul la..
i wonder if petronas sponsored Lotus F1, petronas will bangkrap…haha..slowest fuel on the grid! hahaha
good work Tan Sri Hassan marican!
my tax money, noooo….
ingat lagi perlumbaan yang mana hanya 10 pelumba yang berjaya sampai ke garisan penamat?
F1 bukan hanya kepantasan tapi jentera itu juga perlu ketahanan sehingga akhir pelumbaan.
Aku percaya team Lotus minggu ini beri tumpuan kepada ketahanan jentera (jauh lebih banyak pusingan dari Virgin), Minyak diisi penuh (peraturan tahun ni yang tak benarkan minyak diisi ketika berhenti di pit) (ikuti kenyataan Gascoyne – twitter), kedudukan tempat duduk pemandu, brek, suspension..
mungkin minggu depan, tumpuan diberi kepada aerodinamik dan kelajuan. tunggu 25 feb nanti.
Dan, jika diambil kira hanya 10 pelumba yang berjaya kegarisan penamat, berita gembira mata pertama jika salah satu darinya adalah Lotus!
haha..lucky petronas
who cares? at the end the owner only want to make money selling t shirt, cap and miniature car on air asia plane.
tony gonna be the stewardess in virgin airlines by year end??
There were only 11 teams present at the tests, so you have made a mistake saying last place is 12th and second last is 11th.
Wow! finished 1st & 2nd from behind.
1Msia Bulleh!
that is why i am rooting for bmwSauber…….the team tony fernandes should have bought!!!!!! go kobayashi!!! the next most successful japanese driver after takuma sato
asshole….we put much faith on overseas drivers but they crash it. its after exiting a corner not at a corner….weird…should take malaysian drivers. This Tony has no faith in malaysian…should have just slap 1malaysia & lotus & proton to any existing team…wastage!
Neutral said,
February 21, 2010 @ 1:05 pm
never thought they will finish fastest…yet,5 months..u get what u pay.they will never give the best design unless you pay the highest :p
———-
Not really, Toyota comes to mind. Big spenders but not even one win.
Looks like Ferruccio and maybe one other really knows about F1 here. The others all talk co**! I doubt if the bashers ever drove a 100 or 125cc 2 stroke go kart to comment on F1.
Can any bashers here tell us a team that won F1 on the first try? If you quote Brawn, they were developed by Honda in 2008 for the 2009 season before they pulled out.
And Kopi Man, keep having you kopi O, coz that's shows how much you know about F1 – O. P1 don't fund the team, get your facts right!
Fairuz Fauzy! Fairuz Fauzy! Fairuz Fauzy! Give him a change la bro to be 2nd driver!
good…let see how they perform this year..
lets play F1 Manager … makit hapenn … muahahaha …. anyway congrat to Bolehland F1 team … coz bein famos as a slowest f1 car… kuang kuang
Lotus is the new Minardi.
F1 needs Lotus, otherwise who wants to be last.
is the cosworth engine brand that the lotusf1 is using is the same brand that that minardi used?
i never high expectation on this team bcos this is a new team that being develop.
but i hope that this team will solve the downforce problem immediately…
i think that the driver is good enough 4 a new team…
however all d best…
memang dah agak dah..huhu
So, can we expect Negaraku to be play after 3 years time?
No sure if we can hear our negaraku, after burning MYR 10 billion…???
now who said they are slowest?
there 2 others team that is remain unsure can participate in this season. Campos (wow! sound like campro), and USF1.
And you know what, some american motorsport / f1 lover hate their gov for making shame of their country because not hand little help!
And btw, fairuz fauzy are faster than some driver, he might be a real driver in next year. who know?
Cosworth + Lotus already going well in past 10 years, please check back the history.
Even a weak 1.8 camry engine they can tune to ultimate one. There's always a touch of magic from them. But unfortunately, the current engineer in Team lotus is not truely from lotus. So we cant expect any.
But maybe, some of them are proton engineer that trained before in lotus? Who know.
And yessss again.. Toyota is a big loser in F1 history, winning none in 5 years parcitipation of f1. Even worst… the got the devil technology.. ie : Paddle Stuck-to-the-hell Technology. PST (better than DVVT ) hahahhaa
fuel load strategy is the main factor causing lotus car slower than other. i think we can see a real lotus when they going to bahrain soon. peace!!
u know what all basher here doesnt read the rule for next season
"NO REFUEL IN PITSTOP"
so its important to test the car that can last till finish line….
why u want to see lotus car near to win then….oh no the car empty fuel…more shame…
the test time doesnt reflect any indications on how perfomance as it merely a test.everyone try to sort some stuff for their car…
so please dont bash so wildly
My F1 can apply for quota( 30%) preferential handicap from other established teams ( just like horse racing) then only just a have chance.
So ask Ferrari , Merc and others to weigh down their cars ( by adding weights) so that we can achieve our objectives or better kow tim them .
Another Minardi….
Some of you naysayers are a disgrace to us Malaysians.
When Air Asia first took to the skies, people say the same thing to them. Cannot this, cannot that… Now they're the worlds best, let me repeat the WORLD'S BEST. It took time but they achieved what Malaysians can only dream of. They've proven it. Hello! You won't know unless you try!
Like some of you tunnel visioned naysayers, no wonder we're so backwards in our thinking and still b**tching about not being able to afford a Beemer and what not. Potong tax can still afford ka?
Look in the mirror and start changing your attitude, then we can do the impossible. Give these Lotus F1 guys a break!
Peace.
hahaha…. they way to go for Lotus… as expected… will definitely struggle… with good drivers but a poor car… definitely not the way to go… but… all the best lotus… Virgin got u diz time… hahahaha….
Jeffrey Chew said,
February 22, 2010 @ 9:06 am
Another Minardi….
________________________________________________
Certainly is. What else could it be. On the bright side, what was once Minardi is now Scuderia Toro Rosso and they're no more a backmarker
how fast can it go. it is a proton hahaha
I thought it is a Lotus?
William also using Cosworth engine on their FW32 F1 car.
To the Silly Academy of Proton Bashers – it is not a Proton, it's a Lotus chassis with a Cosworth engine. You only get half a point in that Lotus is owned by Proton. No wonder you need to go to an academy – you know next to nothing about F1 cars.
Unofficial Saturday times from Jerez:
1. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:18.871, 108 Laps
2. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:19.114, 117 Laps
3. Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber, 1:19.188, 117 Laps
4. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 1:19.650, 80 Laps
5. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:20.061, 130 Laps
6. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:20.436, 137 Laps
7. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1:21.053, 139 Laps
8. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:21.194, 88 Laps
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Williams, 1:21.919, 137 Laps
10. Timo Glock, Virgin, 1:22.433, 28 Laps
11. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1:23.470, 141 Laps
Come on guys, stop bashing non stop. This is lotus 1st year, what do you expect? If you want to bash, bash after they have been racing for 2 years. Give them a CHANCE!
lotus f1 should use Herbie …huhu
Fuyiopo said,
February 22, 2010 @ 11:41 am
Come on guys, stop bashing non stop. This is lotus 1st year, what do you expect? If you want to bash, bash after they have been racing for 2 years. Give them a CHANCE!
—————————————————————–
Bro,
"When you play with big boys, you have to act like a big boys". That is the rules of the game. No such thing as "bagi chance", or "newbie privilage" in the cruel world of F1. "You snooze, you loose". Easy as that la.
BY the way, lotus has been racing for many years during the 1960, 70s and 80s. They may have lost touch during their long absence, but asking for CHANCE is so wrong. So shame la….
Also, please dont sound like Proton. After 20 freaking years in making cars, still begging for chance, asking for opportunity, asking for protection and always stuck in 2nd gear.
See what happened now? still a big baby asking for milk from mama.
S-H-A-M-E…
Based on some comments on this forum, we probably have excellent high-flying people who probably, can become PM within 5 months of joining politics, or be the boss of an global MNC within 5 months of joining the company as a freshman, or be a Premiership footballer within 5 months of kicking a ball. No wonder by 15, in the garage of your 50 million dollar home, u got all of your customized Bentleys and Bugattis; and Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Obama got your personal phone number right? And we wonder why Malaysia is still a developing country.
Back to the topic, it's normal when starting from scratch to get the basics right 1st before going for the advanced stuff. By the looks of all the unofficial test results, Virgin is doing it this way (faster, but lower mileage, thus lesser reliability), so you guys can either put your bet on Sir RB, or Datuk TF. I'm going for the latter.
Agree with Eazy.
Virgin looks like it's got some hint of pace while Lotus looks better in the reliability dept. It's pointless to be quick but not reach the finish line. Therefore Lotus looks like a safer bet
All the cars' real potential won't be seen until at least the first 2-3 races of the season.
Even then I won't expect Lotus to be up fighting for podium as they're still a green team. No refueling but tire changing will still come into play.
Actually Lotus just focusing on reliability and finishing at Jerez test. Heikki said. "To be honest, Mike [Gascoyne] has always said that the car should be reasonably solid, should be quite strong, maybe not the quickest initially but it should be fine. Meanwhile Virgin still facing hydraulic problem hampered its running.
Well 3 teams are using Cosworth engines
1.AT&T Williams
2.Virgin Racing
3.Lotus Cosworth
So to gauge this team we have to look at how Williams + Virgin performs too.
But so far Lotus still trailing. :(
Agree with Eazy.
Virgin looks like it’s got some hint of pace while Lotus looks better in the reliability dept. It’s pointless to be quick but not reach the finish line. Therefore Lotus looks like a safer bet
—————————————————–
All cars can be reliable.
-might as well keep to the speed limit of 110km !!
Its all about the package – if you don't have it then
it will be a long hard season.!!
Agree with Eazy.
Virgin looks like it’s got some hint of pace while Lotus looks better in the reliability dept. It’s pointless to be quick but not reach the finish line. Therefore Lotus looks like a safer bet
—————————————————–
All cars can be reliable.
-might as well keep to the speed limit of 110km !!
Its all about the package – if you don’t have it then
it will be a long hard season.!!
—————————————————–
I agree about getting the package right.
But these new teams & cars have none to start with, and they need to get at least an attribute of the car right first, before adding & tweaking the other parts to make the car competitive.
As mentioned, Lotus starts by having the car to be reliable 1st, then making changes to get the other parts, for instance, aerodynamics, to be right. Meanwhile Virgin's approach to this is the other way around. Both are just trying to solve the problem of getting the car to be good using different approach. The team who gets it right the quickest during the season will probably be the best of the new teams.
Personally, this year, I don't even think they are in any danger of challenging even the mid-table positions. At most, probably getting a few points. but Brawn did surprise me last year so who knows what this year, with all the changes, might bring.
malaysia memang boleh said,
February 21, 2010 @ 2:38 pm
Owh,suddenly all know that the car has downforce problem,good,so can anybody here design an f1 car in less than 5 months?
~~~~
I like this comment..! all others in this comment space only know how to bash.. bash.. bash. like no tomorrow.
this is normal laa for an armchair engineer! (you know.. we got armchair golfer, armchair footballer.., armchair f1 driver.. who even never go to track with Go Kart machine)
shame on all of the naysayer actually.. ! never look at the positive side..
~~~
What I like to see –
1. lotus fine-tune the engine.. to the max potential.. (that's what they're best at!)
2. They become reliable team.., that always finish the race.
3. Surprise all malaysian.. especially all this naysayer. :)
hmmm…what's the occasion?
Perhaps FIA may introduce NEP to ensure lottus win….my suggestion, lottus be given handicap 20 laps against big boys…u know, as normal practices in Bolehland…..
leonardo said,
February 22, 2010 @ 11:29 am
To the Silly Academy of Proton Bashers – it is not a Proton, it’s a Lotus chassis with a Cosworth engine. You only get half a point in that Lotus is owned by Proton. No wonder you need to go to an academy – you know next to nothing about F1 cars.
—————————–
nono.,…got proton word on it. driver also feel emo. look at norwich city. last time got proton end up play like shit.
Those who speculate about downforce problem is from observation comparing the Lotus boxy design to other teams curvy flowing shape. and after testing heikki kovalainen in himself confirmed in F1racing.net that this is valid.
From what I gather from the internet forums is that most front runners design those curvaceous allows maximum airflow to the doubledeck diffuser. So the T127 maybe suffering from lack of underbody airflow management efficiency. This is something pretty challenging to overcome as it involves the whole philosophy design of the whole car rather than modify front and rear wing and adding fins.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert but only an enthusiast.
nizam said,
February 22, 2010 @ 5:49 pm
What I like to see –
1. lotus fine-tune the engine.. to the max potential.. (that’s what they’re best at!)
2. They become reliable team.., that always finish the race.
3. Surprise all malaysian.. especially all this naysayer.
__________________________________________________________________
1. There is very little they can do to the engine. Remember the engine freeze? And the fact that the engine is Cosworth's responsibility not Lotus. I don't recall "tuning engines" is what Lotus is ever best at. They never had their own engines.. ever. Not in racing, not in production cars.
2. Yes, that should be one of their primary targets this season.
3. They definitely want to do that but success is a process. There are no short cuts and it will take time, several seasons in fact. They know that but most importantly Malaysian F1 fans need to be educated on this.
Lotus will concentrate on the pace of the car in Barcelona on 25th Feb-28th Feb. Well, lets see if they can do it.
Don't expect much from the Barcelona tests later this week. Lotus will improve their pace no doubt but ALL the teams will be working on their pace as well, testing updated aero packages intended for Bahrain. Expect the pecking order to remain the same. Virgin would be the only other team worth comparing the Lotus against.
Expect during the season about 3 or so instances where teams will again introduce major upgrades to their cars (Catalunya race probably the first), further increasing their car's performance. I hope Lotus has the resources to at least try to maintain the gap from the pack.
Oh.. and teams will all start thinking about concept designs of their 2011 cars probably in about a month or two from now. Hope Lotus did not forget about that :). Otherwise they'll be a one season only team.
i proud to see lotus come back in f1but i still wonder what can Malaysia get form lotus f1???
wasting or profitable????
I like LOTUS….. LOTUS Restaurant !
A little off topic – The pressure is mounting on Sepang as a venue:
Todt ponders Indonesian Grand Prix
FIA President Jean Todt has named Indonesia as a possible country to start hosting global motorsport championships. Although the Frenchman admits that Formula 1 would be a long shot at present, the head of the Paris-based governing body does consider the idea of World Touring Cars (WTCC) for the foreseeable future.
With Asia's involvement in F1 growing yet again this year, with the addition of a Grand Prix in South Korea for late October, Todt (seen above with F1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone) highlights Indonesia as a possible candidate to host Grands Prix of the future.
"Indonesia is a great and large country," the successor of Max Mosley explained to The Jakarta Post. "It seems surprising not to have more international worldwide motorsport events in Indonesia. I hope that those at the top level of the country, starting from the President, will take this opportunity to implement international racing in the country.
"Of course, F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and I must say that it's encouraging to see the evolution of the sport in the region of Asia; we have Malaysia, which started with a Grand Prix, then you have the Grand Prix street circuit in Singapore, South Korea and also races in China and Japan."
Todt admits, however, that F1 will not be seen in the republic – the world's fourth most populous country – just yet. "Not now," he continued, adding that WTCC is a more likely possibility. "It depends from where you start – it's a step-by-step process; if you want to have an F1 race, you need a standard circuit, and at the moment they don't have one of that standard."
Just like Ferrari …
Next year onwards, expect F1 paddles and Launch Controls in Proton Satrias… Technology transfer from F1 !
Can't wait
Don't forget, the actual Lotus company is not involved at all in this LotusF1 Racing fiasco. It's a Cosworth engine, not a Ford and the crew is Litespeed. Maybe next year the real Team Lotus can step in and take over. Well, people working at Lotus Cars can create a new Team Lotus lah…
After reading the regulation changes for 2010 http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regul… and the test results, this is my thoughts: probably the virgin car was not filled all the way to 250liters in their tank which yielded in much lesser vehicle weight hence slightly faster car, whereas the lotus car is petrol-filled all the way to max which sacriced its speed but yielded in the most laps! 141 laps for lotus vs 18 laps for virgin… i think the virgin tank is filled to only 12% that of Lotus'. Weight-wise that is about 193kg for Lotus fuel tank filled with 250liters. And judging from the laps covered by Virgin, it's filled with 12% petrol only or about 23kg weight of petrol in fuel tank; a weight savings of 170kg! With 170kg lighter vehicle, Virgin's is only 1 second faster than Lotus?! I declare Lotus is better than Virgin! if the Virgin car was not strategically filled up that way, there's got to be something else that is dead wrong with that vehicle; to be able to run for 18laps only! Show your support Malaysians, and show some intellect as well in your comments! ;)
Unofficial Saturday times from Jerez:
1. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:18.871, 108 Laps
2. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:19.114, 117 Laps
3. Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber, 1:19.188, 117 Laps
4. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 1:19.650, 80 Laps
5. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:20.061, 130 Laps
6. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:20.436, 137 Laps
7. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1:21.053, 139 Laps
8. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:21.194, 88 Laps
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Williams, 1:21.919, 137 Laps
10. Timo Glock, Virgin, 1:22.433, 28 Laps
11. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1:23.470, 141 Laps
Why would a FORD engine be more fitting in the team than the Cosworth??? The crew is not Litespeed though they are involved in some way in the whole project. The crew are F1 technicians recruited from other F1 outfits.
now where's the petronas windtunnel facilities gone????
sold it to this team and i bet this car would perform better…
sureCan,
First off unless you were in the Virgin garage yourself you would not know what fuel loads they actually ran. No one knows what loads each other were running but you can establish a pattern of each day and can see when they were likely at their lightest and when they were at their heaviest probably but its not possible to know how many kg of fuel opponents were running precisely.
Virgin's lack of laps was because of a persistent hydraulic issue which plagued their car the whole of last week. It was not because they deliberately set out to do only a few laps and thus filled up just enough.
What Petronas windtunnel facilities?? Didn't know they even had one.
Very informatif site.. http://live.autosport.com/
@Mazda 3 MPS – by the same arguement, Toyota F1 failed because it has TOYOTA written on it? It got recalled?
Pomen, do you mean Sauber's windtunnel? Obviously you are shooting from the hips.
pity to mazda 3 mps,
can only afford a mazda
next time,go for a miata
So Virgin's hydraulics were dead wrong.
To the non-supporters: why are Malaysians not supporting Lotus for their feat in hydraulics (at least compared to Virgin) again? Do we feel privieleged when we get to exploit the itsy bitsy info from our own people, and proclaim little that we know to the world? Backstabbing culture is Malaysians? Where are the Malaysian people heading if this type of intraspecies competition turn into badmouthing backstabbing blogging all so often? Show some support instead, who else will support the Malaysian team if not the Malaysians? You think other people will care, you feel good to join other countries/teams in condemning the Lotus team? It's a huge uphill climb for the team, give them good morale boost at least if you can't provide smart technical outputs! ciao!
Agree with sureCan…
Male Virgin's always got problem with 'hydraulics'. I'm no virgin and I can show you my 'hydraulics' which works just fine, in fact more than just fine.. thanks to my experience :) :)
As a Malaysian why do I HAVE to support Lotus F1?? I want to support MercedesGP Petronas instead. Anything wrong with that?
I can understand the purpose of Mercedes GP Petronas, also a Malaysian backed team. They have a proven track record and I think it is likely they will see some podiums.
I don't understand the whole point of this Lotus team. What are we getting out of it? I don't support backmarkers sorry. Never did. Maybe if they show some good improvement as the season goes on, I might start to look at them. Just like how I started to like Sauber. They showed progress. And they earned their credibility.
I think Lotus should prove themselves first. I don't see why we need a fully Malaysian entry in F1. I will appreciate them more if they started with a long term plan, work their way up into F1 from lower forms of racing. Raising up the local motorport/auto industry and benefitting rakyat in the process.
Why so die hard for F1? F1 is not motorsport, it just a part of it. F1 is just a circus.
So if we want to go all nationalistic and patriotic. Why not Merc GP Petronas??? I don't even see any Malaysians in the Lotus. Only the money is Malaysian but the team looks Brit to me.
wud luv to see schuey beat the s*** out of 'em :-D
I dont know why Malaysian bashing Malaysian own team…living in Malaysia, eat and work in Malaysia and bashing own country? What you want actually? If somebody is cheering for MercedesGP Petronas, a Malaysian backed team also, why need to bash another one? Stupid is it?
-The thing is that reliability is always the main thing new team works. I dont seee that LotusF1 car is slow, but it's loaded with fuel. We can see the durability of everyting including tyre itself on how long they can last (in tyre issue, how many laps it can last).
-Slowest does'nt mean not winning races. This is not table tennis or wusyu or something where non-agile people cannot win (or at least very difficult). How much you know about F1 to say that to the team? If they lose anyway, it's just the first year of newly born team, so what can they do? Even Sauber on their first year had nothing much, including Ferrari, are they winning? Laugh la…Alfa Romeo won the first and second season.
– It's a feat in engineering that invention and creation needs time. Not like a magician like lots of you above….
– I put lots of faith in Trulli, Schumacer, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Heidfeld, and Fauzy to give the best for us. Nonetheless they bring back good technologies for us to implement, thats what we call investment. Not investing in Kopi O all day long….