The Team Lotus 2011 challenger T128 was launched on Monday 31st January exclusively in Team Lotus Notes. The special launch edition of the team's magazine has a number of first-see images of the 2011 car and insights from key players within Team Lotus into the design and build process of the new car, including people from the Aero, R&D and Vehicle Dynamics, Design and Senior Management Teams.
Here are a few selected highlights, but click on the link to the launch edition on the homepage of www.teamlotus.co.uk for the whole story.
Marianne Hinson, Head of Aerodynamics: "In aero we started thinking about the new car around Spring last year, a bit before any of the other departments. The start of the process is a really fun period, when you're looking through the new rules, thrashing out ideas and trying to find loopholes."
Lewis Butler, Chief Designer: "The biggest design challenge was trying to package everything a bit smaller. We were trying to get that area around the driver really tight so the aerodynamicists were happy with it."
Elliot Dason-Barber, Head of R&D and Vehicle Dynamics: "We're definitely going to take a step forward with this car. Quite how much we'll close the gap to the teams in front of us we'll see, but my hope is we'll be competing with the teams that were a second or two ahead of us last season."
Keith Saunt, Chief Operating Officer: "You can just see that this car will be faster than last year's. It's got the right sweeps and curves on it - it's the very latest iteration of what an F1 car should be."
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "I think that basically this car looks like a front-running car in every area. We said very clearly that we want to start challenging the established teams and I think that's very achievable."
Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer: "T128 takes Team Lotus in exactly the right direction. We have said since day one of the Team Lotus dream that the plan for our second year was to take the fight to the midfield, and with this car we are all confident that is what we will be able to do."
Team Principal Tony Fernandes: "There has been so much focus off-track it's a thrill to be able to get back to talking about racing. The launch of the T128 is a big step forward for Team Lotus and I want to thank the whole team for the amount of hard work that has already gone into the car, and I want to thank Renault and Red Bull Technology for their tremendous support in helping us make this step forward and for being such great team partners."
Best sector times: S1: 30.865; S2: 28.475; S3: 20.958
Track activity: Installation lap / 10 runs (system / temperature checks)
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN: “Despite the limited running today the car felt fantastic. It immediately felt like it was much better balanced than last year’s car and the grip level felt ok, but it’s a bit hard to make any real judgements as we weren’t going for performance. Today was basically our shakedown and we managed to get through most of the checks we’d aimed to – it wasn’t about pushing today, it was about checking the systems and making sure the new engine, gearbox and hydraulics are all working as we want them to. The whole team has had a very busy winter and everybody has been working flat out to make sure we could be at the first test of the season which wasn’t the case last year. This morning we were the first car out on track and that’s been the story all winter – we’ve hit all our targets and it was the same today.”
MIKE GASCOYNE: “Firstly it was great to get the car out on track on time and I want to thank the whole team for pushing hard to get us to this point. However, it was a bit of a frustrating day as we had a problem with the power steering that brought the session to an earlier end than we would have liked. On stripdown we have been able to identify the problem and it is a very straightforward fix so we will get the parts and spares here for tomorrow and should be able to run through the whole program. On the positive side we did all the systems and temperature checks and everything appears to be running fine so with the power steering issue fixed overnight I am sure we will have two full days of testing to come.”
TONY FERNANDES: “The whole team and I are very happy to be here. It is a real relief to be looking at timing sheets and data as opposed to press statements and court documents, and to be able to hear such positive words from Heikki after his first run this morning makes all the hard work worth it. Today was our shakedown and while it would have been better to run more laps it has been a very useful day. The power steering issue will be sorted overnight and then we have more time to work on performance and learning as much about this car as we can. It is worth bearing in mind that this time last year we were not even here, so to be at the first test and with more time on track to come before the action starts is a big step forward for the whole team.”
LAPS: 38
BEST LAP: 1.31.477
JARNO TRULLI: "It has been a very positive first day,despite the fact we deliberately didn't set any meaningful laptimesas the car is missing a few parts that will be with us tomorrow.Nevertheless, the car feels great - it has good grip and today wewere able to concentrate on carrying out work on the systems whichwe were going to have to do at some point anyway. Now we canconcentrate on building up the performance levels tomorrow and inthe next tests, so while it's a shame I couldn't have a full tasteof the car, it was still a very positive first day in the newcar."
MIKE GASCOYNE: "We had a limited programme today due tothe lack of power steering on the car. Under those circumstances 38laps was the full programme and I want to say well done to Jarnofor completing the plan in a car that was clearly hard work todrive. On the positive side we have now completed the systemschecks on fuel, aerodynamics and cooling and were able to do startsimulations, so with the fact we have another full day of testingtomorrow with both race drivers and the power steering we areaiming to step up to focusing on performance on our third day inValencia."
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