Did you notice the “500 Races” special livery on the Lotus Racing T127 at Valencia? Yes, the Lotus name celebrated its 500th Grand Prix at the European GP and the team had flown in Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s son Clive to mark the occasion. Qualifying saw both Jarno and Heikki show good pace to take their “standard parking spots” in front of Virgin and HRT but behind everyone else. In yesterday’s race, the Finn got involved in a crash with Mark Webber and Trulli finished 21st and last.
“Obviously it was a very disappointing end to our 500th race. Jarno got hit at the start, and we had to change the nose. He also took a hit at the back, and that caused a gearbox problem. We were able to fix that and send him out again, although he was three laps down. He was held up by some of the other slower cars, but at the end of the race he was able to push and really show the car’s pace,” said tech chief Mike Gascoyne.
“I was going really well, pulling away from the guys behind by about half a second a lap, and with Mark we were racing for position so I was always going to defend. I didn’t do anything wrong and he just ran into me. I think he missed his braking point and he ran into me at a very bad angle – his front tyre hit my right rear and he took off. I had to make a mandatory visit to the medical centre, and shook hands with Mark there, but I’m absolutely fine, and glad Mark is too,” Heikki said of his incident.
Here’s Webber’s side of the story: “I was looking for the best tow to get the job done and pass him and he was playing quite hard as well down the inside, blocking all of a sudden very aggressively. In the end the thing that surprised me was how early he braked, that’s the thing which caught me out. It didn’t matter where I was or how close to the tow, I still had everything under control.
“Yeah, he braked, or lifted or whatever, and it turns out it’s about 80 metres before I braked for the previous lap so I mean it’s a different category to what had happened the previous few laps,” the Aussie told BBC.
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Truly…nothing to be proud of. With all the incidents and bad luck (AGAIN). Next race will be Silverstone and they will be having update at their second “home race”.
kesian Lotus….out of luck, out gunned technically, out-driven by other drivers….
I wont kutuk them this time….
RIP
Aggressive you say Webber? The way I see it ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lW13dOoqkU ), Webber was being hesitant to overtake and that Lotus has every right to defend his position. 80 meters braking? Bullshit.
lotus is never a big name in F1 or anywhere. Its just a niche car and a niche brand that got bankrupt several times, those the technology in chassis development is top of the line.
“..lotus is never a big name in F1 or anywhere…”
Are you sure? Depending on when you started following F1, I can understand why you say that. However if you understand the history of F1 you’ll understand why the Lotus name is iconic
Hello, Lotus in the old days boasts many well known drivers and world champions! Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell all drove for Lotus, and in the case of all but Mansell, they’ve won the championship with Lotus. Heck, two of the most famous names in motorsports drove for Lotus too; Mario Andretti & Ayrton Senna. So to say Lotus isn’t a big name in F1 would be foolish
To Lotus’ credit, they revolutionized many aspects of F1 that you now know – the monocoque chassis, wings to create downforce, undercar body design for improved aerodynamics, reassigning radiators to the sides of the car, integrating engine and transaxle components, active suspension etc etc…..
The great Stirling Moss also drove for Lotus and gave the team its first F1 win. So yes, there’s a lot of heritage in this company.
I think Carss really don’t know about F1 history but don’t be shy, there a lot of people here can explain it to you a little bit of one of the most successful F1 team.
so far trulli stinks big time….bad luck can only play a part bt not every single race got excuse,always beaten by his team mate…not good enough , not showing enough to justify his place….
Nothing to celebrate in the next 500 races too!
I think the team should give the 3rd driver a chance to drive the car at least 1 @ 2 grand prix before the end of the season.
Salam..
As i remember it, this is not the first time that Webber have been in a ‘flipping incident’ and even more dramatic. If i am not mistaken he did the same thing in a Merc Le Mans race some years back and Merc promptly pulled out the other car. They later admitted that they have areodynamic malfunctions.
Yes, the flying Mercedes CLR-LM at Le Mans in ’99. Yup Mark Webber was one of the drivers. The Mercs kept taking off so Merc pulled out and never returned to Le Mans
Off Topic
Seem like not only Renault want to supply next year engine to Lotus but Ferrari and Mercedes also interested. But the Hingham base team planning to stay with Cosworth.
http://en.espnf1.com/lotus/motorsport/story/21719.html
So, with the news from tengkurex, most of the engine manufacture interested in developing Lotus F1. If not, why they offering engines to them. As I know Lotus is small/medium budget teams….