It wasn’t a good Monaco debut for Lotus Racing, after Heikki Kovalainen succumbed to mechanical problems and Jarno Trulli missed the chequered flag with a few laps to go. The Italian was running last before he climbed over the top of Karun Chandhok’s car to put both men out of the race. The Indian driver described Jarno’s move as “something silly”. “He is not an idiot, I quite like him and he is a nice guy. I think when he apologises he know he has screwed up,” the HRT man said.
“This wasn’t a great weekend for me. After we had a problem with the wheelgun in the pitstop I was stuck behind the HRTs and trying to find room to overtake – in the last lap Karun seemed slow through the second and third sector, and I’d seen he was leaving room at Rascasse, so I tried to get through but we touched and that was that – the end of the race. It was one of those things – a racing incident, but I still feel like we’re going in the right direction as a team, and I want to put the bad luck behind me when we get back on track in Turkey,” Trulli lamented.
Mike Gascoyne sounded apologetic. “I think as a team we have to take a look at everything to be able to do a better job for him,” the technical director said.
Heikki on the other hand, was forced to retire due to an issue with the steering that made it unsafe to continue. “Just before I retired I could feel the steering alignment was a bit uneven – on the right hand corners I had to use maximum lock, even in the tunnel, and it got the point where it didn’t feel safe anymore. In Monaco you can’t take a risk with it so I came in,” he explained.
“This was our strongest performance yet compared to the midfield, so obviously mixed emotions for where we finished. Heikki had a very strong race and in the middle his performance was particularly good compared to the midfield group. It’s a shame we had a problem on his car – the steering joint failed, something we’ve not seen before – but overall it was a very positive weekend for him,” Gascoyne added.
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U will have good and bad racing weekends, cant have all good but at the same time u cant have all bad as well.
Hoping for the best for the remaining races though. There turkey next week!
Yeah we can roast turkey for a meal , race on!!
What now MY love?
I like the way Tony F talks about the positives exclusivly. I was wondering what he might say after Trulli tried to drive over Chandok but a praise for Trulli it was for trying to make the move regardless.
Alignment problem? Haiyaa I taught only new Perodua steering wheel a little bit senget due to misalignment..
hahaha…i ilke this one..
i thought ‘early shower’ only valid for football….hahaha
Early state in the race,Lotus look promising and maybe could score point but bad luck again happens with Heikki steering problem and Jarno collided with Karun.
Let give Fairuz a chance to prove …… at very least
hydraulic again?
is this car using perdana v-6’s oil cooler???? :lol:
Sack that idiot Mike Gascoyne…
has ready excuses for every race …just to prolonge his highly paid job at Lotus
one plus point i’d like to highlight Lotus is not that Minardi-speed. or minardi level technologies
i pretty sure the gap to the middle pack is all down to technology and technical depth, where many of the teams are way ahead in such areas. aerodynamic varieties, dynamic set ups, etc etc.
but then whats with hydraulic fault? is that not minardi-level mistakes?
The loser lotus team every race also have excuse somewhere…. closing the gap konon…….zzz
i think they are closing the gap to rock bottom team.
Wana bring in Fairuz konon…….what can he do? Trulli and heikki is 100% better and more experience than him.
It is the problem with that damn car.
at least they got Tony F , that man of course can do… at least ‘something’.
i still believe.. someday.
harap tahun depan guna enjin lain….baru ada kemajuan
Cosworth CPS perhaps?
VVT systems were not allowed in F1, AFAIK.
wait for phoenix project finish then they will use turbocharged engine.
lotus is still a bud. it’ll bloom one day.
the fundamental is to resolve the technical issues that hits them every race.
no chance..no chance..for lotus to bloom. it’s just us being realistic. our so-called m’sian team must ask themselves the objective of participating in F1. i think more for publicity & maybe to introduce nasi lemak,goreng pisang,chendol etc etc instead of for the true love/spirit of the sport in F1.
what problem with promoting malaysia?
That lotus crash must be painful to Tony pockets… lol !! Must sell more airtickets this week
How long can tahan like that… $$$$$ up in smoke
I notice that Maxis does selected advert on the cars only.. not all races you see Maxis…. probably only at Sepang to ANGKAT BODEK … and of course cheaper
..but AirAsia giving away free 1million tickets..book it fast, opens in 2 days time :)
Well.. on the Maxis thing, that’s true.. but it’s more than just Sepang. Where it has presence (foreign or local-link asso co/subsis), the ad decals will follow suit.
What’s wrong with Maxis select advert?
Last year, Canon sponsored Brawn GP, but only in Singapore.
If something’s wrong with Maxis, it’s their sluggish wireless broadband.
wait… i think the selective “Maxis” wording is only on rear wing…
check on the nose of Lotus, Maxis is there all the time i think… not so sure… correct me if i’m wrong…
so, i guess… Maxis choose when to sponsor more, when to sponsor less… more or less, it’s still a sponsor…
Not sure about where the selected ads are, since I don’t really scrutnise much on the Lotus car, besides can’t really see it much unless it gets lapped or accident.
But the sponsorship is a set amount, and management would have decided where and what to sponsor according to the race it is being held.
Jarno already try his best, really a problem week for LOTUS, wheel gun, hydraulic, engine and the idiot COSWORTH Engine, totally lack of speed.
Ala nak kecoh ape,even world champion end up with engine problem,both Williams driver end up with accident,2 virgin end up with mechanical failure,nearly 9 driver couldn’t finish the race,and some more the not so powerful cosworth engine,lotus and other new team actually can go faster,but what to do,they have no other option,I’m hoping that lotus can do better for the next season.
Congrats to Force India for putting 2 cars in the points.
I know you’re mocking Lotus by congratulating Force India. But do you realize that the Force India team was once Jordan’s F1 (Eddie Jordan) and Midland and Spyker before being sold to Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher? Force India is NOT a new team!
Chill dude. I’ve followed F1 since Mansell, Berger, Senna & gang were driving. And I’m not one of those ‘mainstream’ supporters. I’m a Sauber fan.
Lotus should be looking to be in Force India’s position even though it’s only technically a new team (staff & facilities have been around the racing industry a while). But we should all be aware it’s not going to happen overnight (or overyear).
is it me or lotus always have the word “positive” up in their remark either at the start or in the end.
sometimes its good to face the fire and admit you are not making distinctive progress. “positive” is just sidestepping the issue.
Lotus dishing out the same crap race after race
and they (Tony F & Mike G) still have the cheek to say that Lotus is improving !!!
Common if you cannot deliver just ship-out !!
No use staying on a sinking ship.
Hopeless team aka Imitation Lotus !
Dearly missed the real ‘JPS Lotus F1’ team…
Sack the CEO & all the dungoo managements!
Pity the two F1 drivers racing crappy car!
Typical Malaysian attitude, unfortunately. As said many of times already, if we’re doing well.. we’re take all the credit, but when we fail a little..we’d find a scapegoat and put all the blame on that person(s). It’s sad to see so many shallow comments over here, those which can’t be backed up with credible facts. I know it’s frustrating, but can’t we just let the season go on and only pass judgments later? I bet HRT and VR are not having such a hard time having to please their own supporters on their lack of result too.
Yeay! Finally Lotus Racing boleh! Boleh naik atas kereta orang lain :-) It’ll be a hard act to follow LOL