Team Lotus, or “Tony’s Lotus” as the team is sometimes referred to in reference to the AirAsia boss, has launched its new T128 challenger for the 2011 Formula 1 season. And the reigning “best new team” is in bullish mood – the target is no longer to beat Virgin and HRT, but challenge the likes of Williams and Lotus-Renault, which is of course the other player in the Lotus vs Lotus saga.
“I think when you look at this car, it looks like a front-running car in every area. We’ve said very clearly that we want to start challenging the established teams, and I think that’s very achievable,” said chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne. “But that line has to continue going up, so we’ll have to target being up there with Toro Rosso, Sauber and Force India, and then end the season by targeting Williams and Renault,” he added.
Team Lotus COO Keith Saunt prefers to set the target in figures. “A lot of people might say I’m too optimistic, but I’d like to think we’ll get between 40 and 50 points this year. I think we’re targeting eighth strategically, but I doubt there’ll be a lot between sixth, seventh and eighth. Depending on how the other guys are doing, seventh could be achievable.”
That’s huge progress Team Lotus is talking about, and we’ll only know if it’s possible once the longest season in F1 history gets underway come March in Bahrain. What do you think of TL’s optimism?
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Yezza!
The show must go on!
talk is cheap..
win races and fans will flock along…
no win but talk big is just for losers..
have to be realistic.. asking for wins is too much… instead, get a point 1st, then can talk about beating any midfields team… :)
I think, what they are riding on in coming up with a statement like that is the fact that they are running Renault engines for this 2011 season. What needs to be borne in mind is the fact that chassis and aero makes a huge impact on the performance of the car on Race Day. Lotus-Renault already has a good chassis and aero package from the 2010 season, which i believe Team Lotus does not, what with having a Renault engine in the chassis for this year (which i believe is running on a wider V than the cosworth Team Lotus was using last year).
my 2 cents.
Wider ‘V’? RedBull Racing, Team Lotus and Lotus-Renault .GP are using the same homologated Renault engine. The RS27 V8. While Team Lotus will use very similar rear powertrain (gearbox) with RedBull Racing, which also dictates rear suspension geometry and basic rear aero. Both RedBull and Team Lotus are running pull rod rear suspension this season. However don’t expect Team Lotus to be as fast as the RedBulls. It simply won’t
hmm.. he already said that he mean Renault’s wider ‘v’ engines compared to previously used Cosworth engines… try read carefully 1st before comment..
Proton Satria Neo Cusco shakedown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGGn80CEI5g
Driven by A. Bamba:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukqz9q8aBPU
Driven by S. Muta:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UZd7VxriKA
Sori ya… off topic.. lalalalala… :)
oh.. stick shift manual. MEM one got sequential, right?
another best newcomer Mark II for me
not because of Tony
or hatred towards hair hasia
but the fact that matter is
they only got a new engine
and thats about it
the others for example torro rosso
being step brother to sebastian’s team
does give them great benefits
it just jamie and i forgot the other whats his name
dont really cut it out for me
vijay’s Force India is having ferrari’s engine if i am not mistaken
and they got podium last season or two seasons ago
so i believe its a bit high for Mike n Co
williams? forget it
as long as that baldie and that kamikaze driver there
u wont be having any chance
50 points is way too high
i believe under 20 is more realistic
however
happy racing and gutluc
u’ll need it
Force India was & still using Merc engines..
oh then its my bad
i reckon Team Tony might surprise us in the beginning and toward the end of the season, they might gradually fade away from the limelight by the shadow of Lotus-Renault awesomeness hahaha.. well, 7th @ 8th spot.. judging from last year performance and this year enhancement.. pretty reachable i guess.
still as a Malaysian, i would like to see Team Tony progress as well and gathered every valuable data to implies on Naza’s 1st home made car.. 3 better than 2 i guess.. i think if they want to, they’re more than ready to do so.. a little push on Proton and Perodua should be good for our domestic market in term of quality and choices.. and plus, unlike Proton & Perodua, instead of building and sell simply their products.. they can retain their current market share and grown to be bigger than those two.. so, do i wanna bought their own product?? hmmm we’ll see..
IMO at best they could get is somewhere between 11- 14 positions. And maybe due to some major misfortunes of the front running teams they could get a few points, but 40 -50 is highly ambitious.
You cannot substitute experience, but once in a while you can get lucky.
Good luck. hahahaha
Wow… I think impossible la for a new team…
well, let us wait.. sounds like another emotional statement to hit on group lotus.
oh wanna challenge PROTON ka? did you know that team is already F1 champion in year 2005-2006??
and a total crap from 2007-2009, with crashgate in its bag. while being driven by the same alonso
the people who instigated crash gate are no longer around.
again, those peoples are responsible for the titles in 2005-2006. Briatore, Symonds & Alonso. Aren’t they?
well.. true.. i don’t like liar no doubt.. but these 3 guys achieved something.. what about MG? only barking here & there without SOLID RESULT!
did i say that MG is any good? it’s just that champ winning combo (those 3 men) are not there anymore and the claim that team “PROTON” won in 2005-2006 is absolutely absurd. why don’t also claim benetton heritage (1994-95)?
whatever u take to get this high
i want it
Too optimistic. Less talk more action.
wow..are they being realistic or fantasizing 50 points? not to shoot them down but….good luck i guess.
last year Robert Kubica alone can score 136 pts.
so “Team Lotus” only wanna score 50 points only ka this season and say wanna defeat PROTON-GROUP LOTUS?? how to defeat PROTON la like this.. aiyaa tony.
defeat proton? is there any proton logo on the LRGP car or any proton tech in the car? even group lotus is just a title sponsor and don’t have any share. all belong to GENII.
Proton employee spotted? ^_^
In case I’ve offended you, I’m just a neutral party in this TL vs GL fiasco. Its McLaren all the way for me :)
i support you all the way, juz leave wht ever people say… tony always prove wht ever he say,,,last year virgin, this year lotus vs lotus.. let the game begin…
I remember last year Mike Gascoyne predicted that they will beat the other new teams etc etc in their first year. I thought that was too optimistic and they would struggle to just finish races and would probably finish last. I was proven wrong. So this year I take what he says more seriously.
Tony Fernandes must score at least 164points to defeat LOTUS RENAULT GP.. not 50 points only.. don’t talk cock ok.. are you really racefan or not.
to be save to defeat LOTUS RENAULT GP is to score 200 points, not 50 points only.. DO NOT TALK COCK, last year always uploaded the lotus racing mechanics which is most of them are really FAT.. maybe Tony upah them to be keyboard warriors now that’s why talk cock so much in internet.. go diet first and score 200 points not 50 points only.
what a waste of money only want to score 50 points only..
and then wanna defeat PROTON.. Tony must learn from Uchiha Sasuke first i think.
go watch that anime first.. his eleder brother intentionally piss him off because do not want his younger brother to be very weak, ranting everywhere and being FAT!
so you’re PROTON warrior who still watch anime and idolising it. wow…
eh? what’s wrong with watching anime?
lol Narutard reference. Sorry, One Piece is the only shonen series worth referencing :P See how Straw Hats are soooo much stronger now after 2 years training, and now they’re properly ready for the New World.
Ok back to topic. Well Tony, he’s playing a very, veeeeery dangerous game. Think about it Malaysians, both Lotuses have to succeed, or we’re frakked both ways.
If Lotus Renault fails, duit rakyat dibazirkan. Easy to understand right? Discussed a million times, right?
BUT if Team Lotus fails, we can probably never see cheap flights anymore. Even as of now they’re struggling to pay taxes, and even get millions worth of discount from MAB, sapa yg bazir duit rakyat sebenarnya?
At least in Lotus-Renault’s case, they’re developing something together outside F1. That Genii dude was even talking about Proton entering Russia market, well, ok that’s not confirmed, but we know their partnership holds substance beyond F1… and especially beneficial to Lotus car manufacturer’s branding effort.
But Tony? Hm hm hm…
Wow its amazing how many points they can predict they score now!!
If they hope to be in the top eight by the end of the season, how the hell do they think they can get 40-50 points??? Eigth place is only 1 point……mid season is 10 races to score in…….hmmmmm some sort of magical mathematics going on here!
Ferrari, Red Bull and Mclaren had both cars in the top six in almost all the GPs in the last year. Nico was in the top eight almost every race and Schumacher was there in most of the races in 2nd half of 2010. Lets not forget Renault and Williams…… Thats a tough crowd to beat……
P8 is 3 points daa…
Duhhhh…….U are correct and i am wrong.
Still if they are consistently in the top 10 from the 2nd half of the season (as they aim to be), it still wont bring them 40 to 50 points……
I believe that the consistent top 6 teams will be Renault, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes and Williams. Sauber also looks good to be up there with James Key, Hinwil facilities plus Mexican money. Doubt any new team will break into this group. Time will tell i guess.
40-50 points eh? That mean on average, both of their drivers need to score points or perhaps 1 driver at least scoring P9 on every race weekend??
Let see.. There r Vettel, Alonso, Schuey, Hammy, Button, Webber, Massa, Rosberg & Kubica. That’s 9 drivers. They (TL) can’t afford to get just P10 on every race weekend to achieve this target. So they think they can challange all these 9 very highly rated drivers??? On every race weekends?? Wow!! What a load of BS!!
Please don’t forget that these 9 drivers r all in good teams which mean that if their team screwed up & come out with bad cars it just mean they build non winning cars (not non point scorer or 4s slower cars like the ‘3 stooges’). And what about Koba, Sutil or Rubens??
The fact is… TL will be very ucky if they can even score a point this season (2011), let alone scoring points consistently! I even doubt that that can consistently qualify for the race with the 107% rule..
Wah lau..
“doubt that that can consistently qualify for the race with the 107% rule”
they qualify all the race last year bar bahrain within the 107% rule.
They are just being ambitious about the points that they want to score..
Its the same as everyone else. You talk about the 9 drivers, how about the car reliability and some accidents that can happen, hamilton lose last year because he cannot finish races compared to other team..Same like other 9, they all at some point did not finish the race.
How can their teams screw up??If TL better means other teams screw up? What the hell are you talking about??
hmm.. bro, better read carefully what she said coz i fully understand her points… what’s the probability of any top drivers have bad race day in every weekend? (hint: consistency in scoring points in every races).. bottom point is, it’s hard to get > 3 points (P8) in every races… for a 2 y.o team..
Yezza..!!
Renault engine is not similar like cosworth engine..I think Renault engine have more power..new team last year use cosworth including William F1.. How far William F1 can compete with others team like Force India..
Talk is Tony’s competency.
Tony Fernandes.. do not talk cock,
to all LOTUS ORIGINALS fan please remember back what Colin Chapman, the founder of the LOTUS said before.. the philosophy is very simple but actually its hard.
“if you’re NOT WINNING, you’re NOT TRYING” – original word by Colin Chapman (LOTUS company founder)
http://www.jpslotus.org/misc/notwinningdvd.jpg
LOTUS brand created originally by Colin Chapman to win not just to score 50 points..
what a shame to LOTUS HERITAGE la this Team Lotus wannabe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_mjA_ipiNI
and please la “Team Lotus” mechanics, race engineers or what so ever, why you guys look so fat?? do you see the genius Colin Chapman look so fat before? u only know to eat not to winning races.. i curse u guys!
For someone asking Tony Fernandes to not ‘talk cock’ whatever the hell that mean, you sure seem to be talking a lot of crap yourself. Team Lotus seem to represent Chapman’s ideals much better than Bahar and Group Lotus do. Fernandes seems to be in the sport because he’s passionate about it, much like Colin Chapman was. Also Team Lotus is the underdog against the bigger teams, much like the old Lotus was when they were taking on Ferrari.
Bahar on the other hand seems to simply be an opportunist. He’s seen the good will Team Lotus has built and how Fernandes and Co have built a good reputation for the new Lotus and decided he’d like a piece of it. Instead of building a team from nothing, which is what Team Lotus has done, he has decided to buy and established team, although it seems he has not even paid for Lotus yet.
I’m not a Malaysian but have friends who are. I am curious why there seem to be so many Malaysians who are supportive of Bahar. Is it because he has committed so much Proton and Malaysian taxpayers money towards his many follies that they are scared that if he fails Malaysia will lose face? Or is it because they want an easy and quick success and think the best road for this is to buy an established team and throw a whole lot of money at F1 and hope for the best?
its time to deliver. come on ya green-yellow car team
Too early for judgement. Let see TL race.
i don’t lah what’s wrong with you people….
what’s the fuss to set a target a little bit to high; It’s no harm to try big ambitions..
I guess you people when at school only target a job at Big mama husband government agency and too scare to set your ambitions a bit higher…
u want to fuss about people with puny ambition or underachievers is fine..but please refrained urself from degrading government agency……..my line of work achieved more benefit for the people regardless of politic race age religion and lifesaving as well……….and its my own choice i can work similar job in private with more pay……some people got other priority in life than money….. unlike some of line of work in faceless, bloodsucking, environmental ruining,ruthless, profit oriented, backstabbing private sector…..
you r right with the private sector things.. can’t agree more.. that’s the REAL WORLD :)
One look at the car and you know it would be much faster than last year’s car. To win races in F1, you must excel in 5 major areas:
1. Tyres (not so important now since everyone using the same tyres)
2. Engine (less important now since the engine development freeze. This will take centre stage when the new 1.6 litre direct injected engine rule takes effect)
3. Aero (This I think is the key nowadays. Lotus Racings car last year have very simple aero design, like car the monster 1200hp cars in the 80’s. With modern aero design, although todays f1 engine has half the power, they are faster than the 80’s F1 cars.)
4. Pit crew and team strategy
5. Driver
IF Team Lotus manage to build a sufficiently pacey car to challenge the midfield, I believe whether they get the 50 points and manage to pip the Genii Capital’s Lotus Renault will be determined by their pit crew and driver.
oh…i saw a renault logo on tony’s lotus….that spells disaster…since they r going against lotus-renault team….wonder if renault will pull back last minute to supply its engine to tony’s lotus ^^
Eh, mana AP King punya logo??