After a disappointing “homecoming” race, where Heikki Kovalainen succumbed to mechanical problems and Jarno Trull finished last, Lotus Racing headed to China aiming to bounce back from their first real setback. And in today’s practise session for this Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, it was business as usual for the Malaysian owned team
In bright Shanghai sunshine, everything went according to plan. The track was very dirty and grip levels were low for the morning session, but improved throughout the day and, despite a small problem for Heikki with a couple of minutes left in the afternoon session, all programs were completed and both T127s were again ahead of the other new teams.
Trulli and Heikki ended the day in 18th and 19th respectively. While they were only rookies to dip below 1:40, Trulli’s best time of 1:39.624 was way behind the “last of the rest” Nico Hulkenberg’s time of 1:37.867. Perhaps this familiar pattern will change once teams bring on updates for the Spanish GP, which is the next race after China.
“It was a satisfying day today and we achieved everything we wanted to on both cars, despite the fact grip levels were very low in the first session and both Jarno and Heikki were struggling slightly with rear grip. Jarno lost a front strake on his first run of the day and we replaced that quickly for his second run. Over lunch we changed the gear ratios on both cars and sent them out for the beginning of the afternoon session on hard tyres. Heikki pulled over after 30 laps as he had a low oil pressure warning and he stopped the car, but it’s not a problem and we’re looking forward to getting out again tomorrow,” Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne said.
Up front, Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets with a 1:35.217 lap. Mercedes GP Petronas’ Nico Rosberg was second, 0.248 behind the McLaren. Hamilton’s compatriot and teammate Jenson Button was third with 1:35.593. Michael Schumacher showed good pace to finish the day fourth ahead of the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber. The Ferraris were down in 10th and 11th. Watch qualifying tomorrow to see if there’s a change of places between the “big four”.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
love that poster
can imagine d drivers joining their team owner in that bet hahaha
dun waste money and time plz…
wont win 1…
throw money into the sea only… still not d lvl yet…
u expect a fresh team to win?crawl oso dunno u wanna run and bcum a olympic champion?
like you really know how hahahaha
You mean your money? Nah.. It is save in wherever you keep it. Tony and Co. just burn their money for fun.
Quit being jealous.
wow, lotus is very consistently with their racing
Consistently racing at the back, that is.
And Tony was blowing his horn pulak
Oh sod off. Force India and Red Bull was around that range a few years back and now where there are now.
Can you wait a couple more season to write this comment?
this is serious the “tidak apa” mentality. Always gives excuse. Needed time, needed money etc. reminds me of proton, the “big baby”. The world around us is developing faster and faster, yet you are lulled by your own “tidak apa” atitude. Just like a katak under coconut shell.
Hello? This is 2010. Everything is global.
Whe you make comparison with Red bull & Force indian, Do you mean that, if other ppl failed before, therefore you can (and expect) be given a licence to fail as well?
Anyway, I draw my line here. Let the rest of the races decide the future of M1 F1.
name me one team that start from scratch made to front row in the 1st year..
dont say brawn cos they are honda before..same goes to redbull
atleast proton made it to china..unlike perodua parent company daihatsu just got kicked out of china..let alone perodua..
typical malaysian mentality “dont bother try”
What failure are we talking about here? Failure after 3 races (going to be 4 this coming weekend) after assembling a racing car in a record time?
Do you even know what F1 is all about? It is not witchcraft where you can magically produce result in an instant. They need time and budget to analyse and to improve. How on earth are they going to do that when they have no prior experience and data do begin with? You send your kids to school expecting they’ll score 9A on their first day at school?
This is not a “TIDAK APA” mentality. This is being sensible. I do not support Lotus Racing (I’m more into Ferrari) but I will not blindly condemn a team for not being able to perform.
Oh well, not that you understand anything at all.
some people chose not to understand i guess
wow bro;
who is really the KATAK under coconut shell here?
thehehehehehehe…..
read the history below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One
from the chart you can see clearly Lotus, HRT and virgin was purely new team. meaning they start from zero and they are not the team that has race any F1 race before.
I really hope tony can spend much more money to buy mercedes engine just like force india do; than we can talk about speed, about challenging for front row.
there’s not much cosworth engine can do at this moment.
thehehehe…
read history of F1 lah bro.
yup…in F1,power is absalute..
for now corsworth is only worthy at the back of the grid….spank in more money to buy better engine tony…
and only after that u will see a huge leap from the back to the middle of F1 grid…
wow nvr know malaysian always condemn their own team/product.. gud luck guys.. hv a nice day..
agree
go lotus!
go Lotus go
save d earth!
stop racing cars…
co2 will destroy our ozone..
well, typical minded of unmodernized malaysian……blaming their own country, their own team……they need more time to establish bro, this is their first season and in fact a f***ing new team……at least lotus are better than virgin and HRT i would say…..errr, all bashers, did u guys went to Malaysian F1 GP last 2 weeks?? or just simply read and bash???
i best most of the basher can’t afford the ticket.
an a grandstand ticket are just in their dream.