Lotus f1 car

The Lotus E20, the team’s 2012 F1 challenger, has been revealed today. The team which competed as Renault in 2011 has changed identities and has an all-new driver line-up for this season. The E20 will be raced by Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. Raikkonen will be first to drive the car in testing at Jerez in the coming week. Lotus were known to have been working on a reactive ride height system for the E20, which they tested on its predecessor in Abu Dhabi last year. However the system was banned by the FIA last month. Lotus E20 pictures Lotus E20 video 2012 F1 cars New HRT F112 seen for the first time in Spain New Marussia MR01 breaks cover at Silverstone A closer look at the Caterham CT01 Mercedes W03 officially revealed in Spain Picture: Mercedes W03 spied at Silverstone Mercedes W03 spotted testing at Silverstone Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car Toro Rosso STR7 – first pictures and video of Toro … [Read more...] about Lotus E20 launch – first pictures of Lotus’s 2012 F1 car

This will be an important week in the ongoing development of the Lotus F1 team. During the Brazil Grand Prix weekend, there will be an announcement that the team is to use Renault engines for the next two seasons. Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, no less, is expected to be at Interlagos to convey the message. Brazil, booming economically, is a very important market for Renault. Ghosn said recently that one of Renault's key objectives is to increase market share there from 6% to 10%. With the rapidly increasing middle class, millions of Brazilians are able to own a car for the first time and Renault are targeting that market, as are FIAT. There has been some speculation in Brazil that Bruno Senna may be drafted in to drive alongside Heikki Kovalainen, which would leave Jarno Trulli out of a drive. There is some background to this. Lotus has been pursuing Brazilian oil company Petrobras for much of this year. Petrobras is the title sponsor of this weekend's Brazilian GP but … [Read more...] about Lotus aim to rise above new team rivals, as Ecclestone attacks

Lotus finally confirmed the news that we've expected for ages, that they will use Renault engines for the next two seasons. We already knew that they would be using Red Bull gearboxes and hydraulics. It marks a significant step forward for the team. It was also announced that Red Bull has renewed its deal with Renault for two more years. The team will run KERS next year, Christian Horner has confirmed. Less clear is what happens next with the name of the team and with the arrival of Group Lotus, the car company, into F1 in partnership with the current Renault team. Currently Tony Fernandes' team, Lotus Racing, is operating under a licence from Group Lotus, but that licence is being withdrawn for next year because Group Lotus want to go F1 racing themselves. There is a great deal of activity behind the scenes with Group Lotus looking at getting involved with the Renault team, possibly being called Lotus Renault next season. "Next year that will be a very different … [Read more...] about Lotus, Renault and some changes afoot

Daniel Ricciardo, the Red Bull reserve driver, set the fastest time on the first day of the Young Guns test at Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi. The 21 year old Australian set a fastest time of 1m 39.616s, which compares very favourably with the pole time for last weekend's Grand Prix, set by Sebastian Vettel in the same car at 1m39.394s. Mark Webber's qualifying time was 1m39.925s. It has to be observed that the comparison of times with last weekend is slightly misleading as the track has ramped up significantly since qualifying with all the rubber that has gone down. Nevertheless it is impressive speed from the former British F3 champion, who finished runner up in the Formula Renault 3.5 series this year. Ricciardo was also very fast in last season's young guns test. You get the sense that Red Bull consider him to be the next big thing. I asked around in the paddock last weekend about his prospects and it seems that there is a plan afoot for him to run a Red Bull … [Read more...] about Ricciardo flies in Young Guns F1 test

The former Racing Point Force India driver, who will be Mercedes’ Formula 1 reserve in 2019, attended the second round of the winter season in Andorra last weekend. He was there to support Formula 2 racer Dorian Boccolacci, who competes in the Elite category of the series and was part of the same Gravity-run Lotus F1 junior scheme as Ocon a few years back. “I came to see Trophee Andros as a visitor and also to support my friend Dorian Boccolacci,” said Ocon. “We love motorsport and miss it in the winter time, so we all like going to Trophee Andros.” While the discipline’s new four-wheel drive, four-wheel steer electric car in the top-level Elite Pro category won the opening two rounds, in the hands of touring car driver Aurelien Panis and ex-F1 driver Frank Lagorce, Ocon will test a single-make rear-wheel drive electric car in Isola, of the same class in which Panis won the title last season. “I will be in Isola 2000 to test the electric car but I won’t do the race, we … [Read more...] about Ocon to test electric Andros Trophy car

Kimi Raikkonen says he isn’t expecting a hard time returning to F1 after two years away. Speaking at the launch of the Lotus E20 he said: “I’ve driven with KERS before and DRS is just a button. Once you’ve done it a few times it will become automatic.” Asked about the introduction of the Drag Reductions System last year he said: “In 2010 I didn?������t really follow Formula 1 but I saw more races last year. “It doesn?������t really look different, but there is overtaking in some different places where people can just drive past by opening the rear wing and the driver in front has no chance to defend himself ?����ǣ so is this really overtaking? I don?������t think it counts all the time. But for sure the show is better. “The tyres make a difference too, as there is a big speed difference between when the tyres are new and when the tyres are old. In the old Formula 1, you had to be so much faster than the guy in front of you to have any chance to overtake, but now with the … [Read more...] about Raikkonen expects no problems adjusting to F1’s changes

The fifth of this year’s F1 cars will be seen for the first time today as Lotus prepare to unveil their E20. The car takes its name from the Enstone factory the team is based at, which was previously home to Renault and Benetton. The E20 is the 20th F1 car to be built there. Lotus are launching their car online at 4pm UK time . F1 Links F1’s Lewis Hamilton starting afresh after ‘battling everybody’ in 2011 (The Guardian) “There were times last year when I was juggling too many things. There were too many things hanging over me, too many things which were unfinished, questions in my mind, whether it was purchases, investments, management, lawyers or family.” Hamilton confident he can get better of Button (Daily Telegraph) “I don?������t even feel that when I was qualifying, even when I got pole, that I was extracting 100 per cent of what I can do. And in races even less than that.” F1 teams hope to keep noses clean (The Times, subscription required) … [Read more...] about Lotus E20 to be launched today

Williams has announced today that the team will drop promising rookie Nico Hulkenberg for next season. At the same time it was confirmed that Rubens Barrichello will race on for the team in 2011, and unprecedented 19th season of F1 competition. Hulkenberg's spectacular pole position in Brazil last week, where he set nine consecutive best sector times, was not enough to save his drive, in the face of the expected arrival of GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado, who has extensive backing from the Venezuelan government. Barrichello's contract was signed some time ago but was not announced as the team worked hard behind the scenes to replace the sponsorship money which ends this year from its leading backers RBS, Philips and AT&T. Team principal Adam Parr has been working hard on raising money in Venezuela and Qatar. It has also been suggested that minority shareholder Toto Wolff is to increase his stake in the team. Under the management of Willi Weber, who had Ralf Schumacher … [Read more...] about Hulkenberg gets the bullet from Williams; Barrichello goes for 19th F1 season

Aston Martin revealed they have been recruiting “very talented” people to work on the team’s new gearbox project, which will take effect for when they become a new factory team in 2026. Aston Martin are set to team up with Honda when the Japanese marque’s collaboration with Red Bull ends, with an exclusive power unit deal with ‘Team Silverstone’ making them a new factory outfit on the Formula 1 grid from the next big technical regulation reset in 2026. In preparation for this, the team are already working hard to hit the ground running to have a new gearbox that will work with Honda’s power unit – the first manufactured in-house at the Silverstone team since the 2008 season. Aston Martin provide update on factory team preparations Aston Martin engineering director Luca Furbatto said the team have been working hard behind the scenes on the project, which is just one part of the eventual severing of customer ties they currently have with Mercedes at the end of 2025. He … [Read more...] about Aston Martin rekindling long-lost knowledge as part of F1 factory team preparations