technical chief Mike Gascoyne believes his team can take a significant step forward in the Spanish Grand Prix thanks to the upgrades it will introduce.
With Lotus having raced with a simple car design in the first four races of the season, Gascoyne reckons the team has a lot to gain from the introduction of more developed parts.
And that is why he is confident Lotus will be able to close to the gap to its rivals from the Spanish GP onwards.
"All the teams will have upgrades for Barcelona, but we're hoping that ours is even more significant than our rivals because we received our entry so late and had to freeze the initial specification of the car very early in the design process," said Gascoyne.
"We do expect it to be reasonably significant - we have an aero package with revised sidepods, front wings and brake ducts, and a number of mechanical changes, but obviously we'll have to wait and see what step forward our rivals will also make."
He added: "It's very gratifying to see the whole factory in full operation, with every department now nearly fully staffed but starting to work to their full potential.
"This means we can now look at more long-term development and R&D programmes, and start thinking about future cars. We're through the hardest part of the team's growth and we're on a very good footing for the future."
Team boss Tony Fernandes admitted he was delighted with the performance of his team so far, something he reckons proved all doubters wrong.
"We're back in Europe and I couldn't be more pleased with the position we arrive in. The first phase of Lotus Racing's life is now behind us, and the next challenge starts here.
"We've proved all the doubters wrong, and have shown that the hard work everyone in the team puts is making the dream we share come true."
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Showing posts with label Chinese GP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese GP. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Monday, 19 April 2010
Horner: RBR would have won normal GP
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner is adamant his team would have dominated the Chinese Grand Prix had it been run in normal conditions.
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished a distant sixth and eighth respectively in the Shanghai race, despite having started from the front row of the grid.
Red Bull struggled in the tricky conditions, with rain hitting the circuit several times during the race.
Horner believes, however, that had it been dry, his drivers would have emerged on top quite easily.
"A far from straightforward race in very tricky conditions, and sixth and eighth is still very valuable points," Horner told AUTOSPORT.
"It is just obviously frustrating, that with a straightforward dry race today I don't think the opposition would have seen us."
Despite Red Bull having missed several opportunities in the first four races of the season, Horner insists there are lots of reasons to be positive.
"We know we have a fast car," he said. "I think in conditions like in China it is not just about strategy, there is a degree of luck involved. And when you start seventh and eighth you have less to lose and more to gain.
"We head back to Europe have gone to four very different venues, had had two 1-2 starts and one 1-3 start.
"So I think there is an awful lot of positives. As you saw with Ferrari here, they didn't score big points either. So I think it is innate to the championship that there will be swings and roundabouts to it."
And he reckons Red Bull is operationally stronger than last season, despite having won just one race out of a possible four so far.
"Absolutely. There is no question about that. Here was not anything to do with strategy or operationally. I think the communication between the engineers and the cars and the drivers - at the end of the day they made all the same calls as Lewis [Hamilton] did, so I don't think there are any issues there whatsoever."
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished a distant sixth and eighth respectively in the Shanghai race, despite having started from the front row of the grid.
Red Bull struggled in the tricky conditions, with rain hitting the circuit several times during the race.
Horner believes, however, that had it been dry, his drivers would have emerged on top quite easily.
"A far from straightforward race in very tricky conditions, and sixth and eighth is still very valuable points," Horner told AUTOSPORT.
"It is just obviously frustrating, that with a straightforward dry race today I don't think the opposition would have seen us."
Despite Red Bull having missed several opportunities in the first four races of the season, Horner insists there are lots of reasons to be positive.
"We know we have a fast car," he said. "I think in conditions like in China it is not just about strategy, there is a degree of luck involved. And when you start seventh and eighth you have less to lose and more to gain.
"We head back to Europe have gone to four very different venues, had had two 1-2 starts and one 1-3 start.
"So I think there is an awful lot of positives. As you saw with Ferrari here, they didn't score big points either. So I think it is innate to the championship that there will be swings and roundabouts to it."
And he reckons Red Bull is operationally stronger than last season, despite having won just one race out of a possible four so far.
"Absolutely. There is no question about that. Here was not anything to do with strategy or operationally. I think the communication between the engineers and the cars and the drivers - at the end of the day they made all the same calls as Lewis [Hamilton] did, so I don't think there are any issues there whatsoever."
James Allen's Chinese GP verdict
Some timely Shanghai showers helped produce another enthralling grand prix, with overtaking galore and a host of impressive drives.
ITV.com/F1 columnist James Allen analyses all the key performances and the decisions that shaped the outcome in his regular post-race verdict.
Remember that furore after Bahrain about Formula 1 being boring? No, neither do I.
The fundamental problems of F1 remain – cars find it hard to overtake in dry conditions, compounded by the absence of refuelling.
And these issues still need to be addressed. We will have dull races like Bahrain again; Barcelona is often pretty tedious.
But for the third time in a row since Bahrain, we have enjoyed a cracking grand prix full of overtaking, drama and well-judged performances.
Top marks to Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso in particular.
For Button this was another strong drive, which was built on his early decision to stay on slick tyres on a damp track.
Thereafter he still had plenty of work to do, including passing Rosberg for the lead as the rain started falling more heavily and the pair were still out on their slick tyres.
Rosberg and the two Renault drivers benefited from making the same tyre call as Button, and it gave them a huge lead when the rest were forced to pit for a second time to replace the intermediates they wrongly thought were essential for the conditions.
It was pretty tough on the leading drivers when they were later forced to fend off challenges from the big names, who were brought back into the race by a fortuitous safety car period.
Hamilton was one of these, along with the two Red Bull drivers, the Ferraris and Michael Schumacher.
Fans have been waiting to see Hamilton and Schumacher racing each other and two battles came along today.
The first came about because Hamilton was two seconds per lap faster than Schumacher but took a couple of laps to pass him, giving the great champion plenty of respect.
Red Bull had a horrible day, turning a front-row lockout into sixth and eighth places.
At the start, Mark Webber avenged the pass that Sebastian Vettel made on him at the start in Malaysia, but it amounted to little because both made the intermediate tyre call on lap three.
Webber came in first and damaged his wing and the front jack. Vettel lost a lot of time because he was queuing behind and the team had to get a new jack.
After that they battled their way through the field but, as Vettel observed after the race, they struggled to get the tyres up to temperature after the safety car and the pit stops.
In the closing stages their pace was nowhere near as good as the McLaren. And yet they had enjoyed a significant margin over the others in qualifying once again, taking their fourth pole position in four events.
Rosberg has now taken two podiums and has well and truly shaded his team-mate Schumacher, who is not enjoying an auspicious comeback.
Rosberg is another, like Button, who is forcing people to re-evaluate his quality.
He did a great job in qualifying to get ahead of Button on the grid in fourth place, which gave him the lead after the Red Bulls’ early stops.
Although he couldn’t resist Button’s pass once it started raining again, he nevertheless did a fine job once again to take another podium and he now sits second in the world championship.
Kubica also built on a strong qualifying performance with another clean race and the right tactical calls en route to fifth place.
Like Button and Rosberg he made just two pit stops today, compared with four for the Red Bulls and Schumacher.
His Renault team-mate Vitaly Petrov also had a reputation-enhancing day, with some strong overtakes, including one on Schumacher, to take seventh place.
But the most remarkable story is probably Alonso, who finished fourth despite five visits to the pits, one of them to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.
This was entirely his own fault and one can only guess what the result of the race might have been had he not done that.
Felipe Massa was with him for much of the race, apart from the drive-through of course, and yet finished down in ninth place, 45 seconds behind.
The safety car made a big difference to Alonso’s race. He was 10th and over 40 seconds behind the leaders when it was deployed.
The race restarted on lap 26 and three laps later Alonso was passing Adrian Sutil for sixth place and was up to fourth by lap 40.
One final thing to mention is that the stewards again took a more conciliatory line with drivers today, as in Malaysia.
Once again Hamilton was in the thick of the action, this time battling with Vettel on the way in and out of the pits.
The exit was the dangerous one; McLaren released Hamilton a second after Red Bull and as Vettel rolled alongside the McLaren box, Hamilton came up on his right.
Hamilton didn’t yield and Vettel squeezed him to the right, towards the pit apron and mechanics.
The stewards gave both drivers a reprimand, rather than a time penalty added to their race time or a grid penalty at the next race.
It marks a change of style from the last few years where stewards upset fans and drivers by being overly harsh at times in judging close driving calls.
Perhaps the presence of ex-drivers on the steward panel is having an effect. Here it was Alex Wurz whose voice was being heard in the stewards’ room.
ITV.com/F1 columnist James Allen analyses all the key performances and the decisions that shaped the outcome in his regular post-race verdict.
Remember that furore after Bahrain about Formula 1 being boring? No, neither do I.
The fundamental problems of F1 remain – cars find it hard to overtake in dry conditions, compounded by the absence of refuelling.
And these issues still need to be addressed. We will have dull races like Bahrain again; Barcelona is often pretty tedious.
But for the third time in a row since Bahrain, we have enjoyed a cracking grand prix full of overtaking, drama and well-judged performances.
Top marks to Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso in particular.
For Button this was another strong drive, which was built on his early decision to stay on slick tyres on a damp track.
Thereafter he still had plenty of work to do, including passing Rosberg for the lead as the rain started falling more heavily and the pair were still out on their slick tyres.
Rosberg and the two Renault drivers benefited from making the same tyre call as Button, and it gave them a huge lead when the rest were forced to pit for a second time to replace the intermediates they wrongly thought were essential for the conditions.
It was pretty tough on the leading drivers when they were later forced to fend off challenges from the big names, who were brought back into the race by a fortuitous safety car period.
Hamilton was one of these, along with the two Red Bull drivers, the Ferraris and Michael Schumacher.
Fans have been waiting to see Hamilton and Schumacher racing each other and two battles came along today.
The first came about because Hamilton was two seconds per lap faster than Schumacher but took a couple of laps to pass him, giving the great champion plenty of respect.
Red Bull had a horrible day, turning a front-row lockout into sixth and eighth places.
At the start, Mark Webber avenged the pass that Sebastian Vettel made on him at the start in Malaysia, but it amounted to little because both made the intermediate tyre call on lap three.
Webber came in first and damaged his wing and the front jack. Vettel lost a lot of time because he was queuing behind and the team had to get a new jack.
After that they battled their way through the field but, as Vettel observed after the race, they struggled to get the tyres up to temperature after the safety car and the pit stops.
In the closing stages their pace was nowhere near as good as the McLaren. And yet they had enjoyed a significant margin over the others in qualifying once again, taking their fourth pole position in four events.
Rosberg has now taken two podiums and has well and truly shaded his team-mate Schumacher, who is not enjoying an auspicious comeback.
Rosberg is another, like Button, who is forcing people to re-evaluate his quality.
He did a great job in qualifying to get ahead of Button on the grid in fourth place, which gave him the lead after the Red Bulls’ early stops.
Although he couldn’t resist Button’s pass once it started raining again, he nevertheless did a fine job once again to take another podium and he now sits second in the world championship.
Kubica also built on a strong qualifying performance with another clean race and the right tactical calls en route to fifth place.
Like Button and Rosberg he made just two pit stops today, compared with four for the Red Bulls and Schumacher.
His Renault team-mate Vitaly Petrov also had a reputation-enhancing day, with some strong overtakes, including one on Schumacher, to take seventh place.
But the most remarkable story is probably Alonso, who finished fourth despite five visits to the pits, one of them to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.
This was entirely his own fault and one can only guess what the result of the race might have been had he not done that.
Felipe Massa was with him for much of the race, apart from the drive-through of course, and yet finished down in ninth place, 45 seconds behind.
The safety car made a big difference to Alonso’s race. He was 10th and over 40 seconds behind the leaders when it was deployed.
The race restarted on lap 26 and three laps later Alonso was passing Adrian Sutil for sixth place and was up to fourth by lap 40.
One final thing to mention is that the stewards again took a more conciliatory line with drivers today, as in Malaysia.
Once again Hamilton was in the thick of the action, this time battling with Vettel on the way in and out of the pits.
The exit was the dangerous one; McLaren released Hamilton a second after Red Bull and as Vettel rolled alongside the McLaren box, Hamilton came up on his right.
Hamilton didn’t yield and Vettel squeezed him to the right, towards the pit apron and mechanics.
The stewards gave both drivers a reprimand, rather than a time penalty added to their race time or a grid penalty at the next race.
It marks a change of style from the last few years where stewards upset fans and drivers by being overly harsh at times in judging close driving calls.
Perhaps the presence of ex-drivers on the steward panel is having an effect. Here it was Alex Wurz whose voice was being heard in the stewards’ room.
Ferrari targets qualifying improvement
Ferrari must focus more of its effort onto improving its qualifying form if it is to stand a good chance of winning the world championship this year.
That is the view of team principal Stefano Domenicali, who believes that the edge that Red Bull Racing has enjoyed in qualifying this season must be closed down.
"One thing that we need to work towards perhaps in a little bit of a different way is to prepare qualifying," said Domenicali.
"We know that qualifying is really important and we saw that our major competitor seems to be, at least from what we have seen in the times, a little bit better than us on that moment of the weekend."
Like many teams, Ferrari is planning to bring an upgrade package for the Spanish Grand Prix - with Domenicali under no illusions about the effort his team needs to make to beat Red Bull Racing and McLaren.
"We are working very hard in order to bring new performance developments already for Spain because we have seen this weekend that the others have done the same," he said. "The difference between the cars is so small.
"It is unbelievably small and if you do a little mistake while you are driving, you move from first or second to seventh or eighth position. That is the way it is with this championship. We knew it, and that is the way that we will approach it."
He added: "But, on the other side, and as we have always said since the beginning, the competition is very tight. It is very tough.
"And we don't have to give up and push like hell in order to make sure that the new step that we will bring at every race will be enough, because we did a step in this race but we have seen that the others have done the same. That is the racing of this year, and that is basically the situation."
That is the view of team principal Stefano Domenicali, who believes that the edge that Red Bull Racing has enjoyed in qualifying this season must be closed down.
"One thing that we need to work towards perhaps in a little bit of a different way is to prepare qualifying," said Domenicali.
"We know that qualifying is really important and we saw that our major competitor seems to be, at least from what we have seen in the times, a little bit better than us on that moment of the weekend."
Like many teams, Ferrari is planning to bring an upgrade package for the Spanish Grand Prix - with Domenicali under no illusions about the effort his team needs to make to beat Red Bull Racing and McLaren.
"We are working very hard in order to bring new performance developments already for Spain because we have seen this weekend that the others have done the same," he said. "The difference between the cars is so small.
"It is unbelievably small and if you do a little mistake while you are driving, you move from first or second to seventh or eighth position. That is the way it is with this championship. We knew it, and that is the way that we will approach it."
He added: "But, on the other side, and as we have always said since the beginning, the competition is very tight. It is very tough.
"And we don't have to give up and push like hell in order to make sure that the new step that we will bring at every race will be enough, because we did a step in this race but we have seen that the others have done the same. That is the racing of this year, and that is basically the situation."
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Webber: Red Bull blown away in China
Webber says Red Bull was 'blown away' at the Chinese Grand Prix after the team had to settle for a disappointing result having started from the first row.
Webber finished in eighth position, two places behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel, as Red Bull was unable to be competitive in the difficult conditions.
The Australian admitted his team was simply not fast enough.
"We got blown away so it was a very difficult grand prix for us," Webber told the BBC. "We weren't quick enough, simple as that.
"They were changeable conditions but it's the same for everyone, and the car is very sensitive in these conditions if it is not going one way or the other for you. Interesting grand prix.
"We know (where we lose out in these conditions) and we have got to improve it."
Vettel, starting from pole, admitted the result was disappointing, although he reckons the points could be important later on.
"In the end to finish sixth can be quite important, but our main competitors finished ahead so that's not nice," Vettel told the BBC. "It was a very difficult race for us, both of us struggled quite a lot in certain conditions.
"Once we are in clean air our pace was decent, but you know, it is very on/off in these conditions and it is a lot just to maintain track position.
"We need to understand why we were not able, especially out of the restart, why we were not able to be there straight away. We were lacking a little bit of temperatures in the tyre."
The German, under investigation for his pitlane incident with Lewis Hamilton, said he did not understand the Briton's driving.
"I was in a similar track position as he was after the first stop and we found our way through the field," he said. "At the stop you were mentioning I was ahead, I don't know why he was keen to touch me.
"I thought hopefully I don't suffer a puncture after that, don't really understand because I was a bit ahead. He turned out to be a little bit faster on the track anyway so we need to see."
Webber finished in eighth position, two places behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel, as Red Bull was unable to be competitive in the difficult conditions.
The Australian admitted his team was simply not fast enough.
"We got blown away so it was a very difficult grand prix for us," Webber told the BBC. "We weren't quick enough, simple as that.
"They were changeable conditions but it's the same for everyone, and the car is very sensitive in these conditions if it is not going one way or the other for you. Interesting grand prix.
"We know (where we lose out in these conditions) and we have got to improve it."
Vettel, starting from pole, admitted the result was disappointing, although he reckons the points could be important later on.
"In the end to finish sixth can be quite important, but our main competitors finished ahead so that's not nice," Vettel told the BBC. "It was a very difficult race for us, both of us struggled quite a lot in certain conditions.
"Once we are in clean air our pace was decent, but you know, it is very on/off in these conditions and it is a lot just to maintain track position.
"We need to understand why we were not able, especially out of the restart, why we were not able to be there straight away. We were lacking a little bit of temperatures in the tyre."
The German, under investigation for his pitlane incident with Lewis Hamilton, said he did not understand the Briton's driving.
"I was in a similar track position as he was after the first stop and we found our way through the field," he said. "At the stop you were mentioning I was ahead, I don't know why he was keen to touch me.
"I thought hopefully I don't suffer a puncture after that, don't really understand because I was a bit ahead. He turned out to be a little bit faster on the track anyway so we need to see."
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Vettel hails 'fantastic' pole lap
Sebastian Vettel hailed his final qualifying lap as "fantastic" after securing pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The German claimed his third pole in four races, also making sure Red Bull has secured the top spot in all the grands prix of the season so far.
Vettel, who had struggled with his car's set-up before qualifying, admitted his lap had been superb, especially on the first sector, where the German had had more trouble this weekend.
He qualified nearly three tenths ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.
"It was tough today. I was not so happy yesterday and this morning especially Mark was quite a bit quicker than me," said Vettel.
"We did some changes and went a little bit in Mark's direction but it was extremely difficult. "I was struggling in the first sector especially but now in qualifying I was purple in sector one.
"I found a line like last year a little bit. I had two very good runs in Q3, the last corner on the first run I was a bit too wide, otherwise it would already have been a good time, but the second run was a bit better everywhere.
"It was a fantastic lap, and the fourth consecutive pole position for Red Bull. We are proving we have a very good car independent of the circuit type. We are always up there.
"Special thanks to the mechanics because they had zero lunch as we required a lot of changes that they had to work from free practice to qualifying."
Vettel said he is confident he will be strong in any conditions in tomorrow's race, when rain is expected to hit the circuit.
"I think it will be raining tomorrow, it's just a question of when," he added. "It will be similar to the last two races. We are not afraid of any rain, for Sunday it looks quite bad if you look at the weather.
"The question is will it be wet throughout the whole race or after the start? We have good memories of the wet conditions last year and if the rain comes it is best to start at the front because you are the one who sees the best. Dry or wet we should be well armed for tomorrow."
The German claimed his third pole in four races, also making sure Red Bull has secured the top spot in all the grands prix of the season so far.
Vettel, who had struggled with his car's set-up before qualifying, admitted his lap had been superb, especially on the first sector, where the German had had more trouble this weekend.
He qualified nearly three tenths ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.
"It was tough today. I was not so happy yesterday and this morning especially Mark was quite a bit quicker than me," said Vettel.
"We did some changes and went a little bit in Mark's direction but it was extremely difficult. "I was struggling in the first sector especially but now in qualifying I was purple in sector one.
"I found a line like last year a little bit. I had two very good runs in Q3, the last corner on the first run I was a bit too wide, otherwise it would already have been a good time, but the second run was a bit better everywhere.
"It was a fantastic lap, and the fourth consecutive pole position for Red Bull. We are proving we have a very good car independent of the circuit type. We are always up there.
"Special thanks to the mechanics because they had zero lunch as we required a lot of changes that they had to work from free practice to qualifying."
Vettel said he is confident he will be strong in any conditions in tomorrow's race, when rain is expected to hit the circuit.
"I think it will be raining tomorrow, it's just a question of when," he added. "It will be similar to the last two races. We are not afraid of any rain, for Sunday it looks quite bad if you look at the weather.
"The question is will it be wet throughout the whole race or after the start? We have good memories of the wet conditions last year and if the rain comes it is best to start at the front because you are the one who sees the best. Dry or wet we should be well armed for tomorrow."
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