Formula1 chat

Sorry we can't say too much about Lotus F1 --- YET
I can't wait either, all the other teams are hogging the press.

If Tim can get Nigel on the Front of Chicane - can he get him in the F1 car?
May not finnish but he would sure set some quick times
Peter

P.S.
Just logged onto the BBC site to listen to the first Lotus Cosworth in 27yrs ( must say it sounded a bit rough to me - perhars my ears have got older as well)
See what happens on friday !!!!

He is now confirmed as racing an LMP1 Ginetta Zytek at Le Mans this year with sons Leo and Greg. as well as other races in LMS.

About time too !

Ecclestone reveals teams can miss races
07/02/2010

For the past few weeks rumours have been flying around that Campos and USF1 may ask to miss the first three races of the season. What we didn't know until now is that not only are these two teams perfectly entitled to do this under the new Concorde Agreement, but so is any team on the grid.

This staggering news comes straight from the mouth of Bernie Ecclestone speaking to Pitpass' business editor today in the Express. "I think we won't see Campos and I don't think we will see the Americans... they are going to ask to miss three races," says Ecclestone adding "in the Concorde Agreement the teams are allowed to miss three races." Aguri Suzuki must be wishing he had signed this version of the contract.

The clause keeps the door open for F1's new entries but it could also give the sport a patchwork grid with teams coming and going depending on whether they can afford to race. It could dent interest in the sport as Ecclestone indicates by asking, "what if Ferrari miss three races?"

It could also see the company Ecclestone runs paying hefty fines if it breaches its contract with the FIA which grants it the commercial rights to the sport. According to company documents, under this contract Ecclestone's company is committed "to use its reasonable endeavours to procure the participation of at least 16 cars per Grand Prix."

In the past 12 months Honda, BMW and Toyota have pulled out of the sport due to the high cost of competition which averages $270m per team. However, missing the more expensive long haul races may be a way for teams which are close to the wall, and not likely to score points, to reduce costs and remain in the sport.

Stefan Grand Prix based in Serbia is ready to take the position of any team which drops out and, according to Ecclestone, "they are going to take over Toyota completely. The team and motorhomes." He adds that "they have got the money from the government, I've spoken to the prime minister."

However there is no space on the grid for the team so, as Ecclestone says, "they are ready to rock and roll but they've not got an entry."

Until Stefan gets the slot one imagines that the Serbian government won't be handing over the cash and, having filed a complaint against the FIA with the European Commission, it's hard to imagine the team getting a slot.

Stefan isn't the only team which may be hurting according to Ecclestone who says that he thinks Mercedes' withdrawal of its stake in McLaren will hurt the Woking team.

Ecclestone also suggests that just as the new teams may miss races, so too may he miss instalments on the $10m payment to them. "Maybe we can miss a few races," he says adding that the money will only begin to be paid if the teams start racing. He has a simple solution to minimise the number of team personnel at the races and cut costs for not only the new teams, but the existing ones as well - "very easy, don't give them passes so don't let them in."

As ever, Ecclestone holds all the keys.

From pitpass
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=39908


Eddie

Formula Uno

The Ferrari F1 team fired their entire pit crew yesterday.

This announcement followed Ferrari's decision to take advantage of the
British government's 'Work for your Dole' scheme and employ some
Liverpudlian youngsters.

The decision to hire them was brought about by a recent documentary on
how unemployed youths from Toxteth were able to remove a set of wheels
in less than 6 seconds without proper equipment, whereas Ferrari's
existing crew could only do it in 8 seconds with millions of pounds
worth of high tech equipment.

It was thought to be an excellent, bold move by the Ferrari management
team as most races are won and lost in the pits, giving Ferrari an
advantage over every other team.

However, Ferrari got more than they bargained for!


At the crew's first practice session, not only was the scouse pit crew
able to change all four wheels in under 6 seconds but, within 12
seconds, they had re-sprayed, re-badged and sold the car to the Mclaren
team for 8 cases of Stella, a bag of weed and some photos of Coulthard's
bird in the shower.

GrumpyBodger wrote:Formula Uno
The Ferrari F1 team fired their entire pit crew yesterday.

This announcement followed Ferrari's decision to take advantage of the
British government's 'Work for your Dole' scheme and employ some
Liverpudlian youngsters.

The decision to hire them was brought about by a recent documentary on
how unemployed youths from Toxteth were able to remove a set of wheels
in less than 6 seconds without proper equipment, whereas Ferrari's
existing crew could only do it in 8 seconds with millions of pounds
worth of high tech equipment.

It was thought to be an excellent, bold move by the Ferrari management
team as most races are won and lost in the pits, giving Ferrari an
advantage over every other team.

However, Ferrari got more than they bargained for!

At the crew's first practice session, not only was the scouse pit crew
able to change all four wheels in under 6 seconds but, within 12
seconds, they had re-sprayed, re-badged and sold the car to the Mclaren
team for 8 cases of Stella, a bag of weed and some photos of Coulthard's
bird in the shower.

Bloomin excellent ...made me laugh - nearly choked on my Italian pasta - I'll be reading this to my accountant this afternoon- a Ferrari fan (well was until Lotus came back).
Cheers, Tim.

Some of the latest news from F1.

The Campos Formula 1 team has been renamed Hispania Racing (HRT F1) after being taken over by Spanish financier Jose Ramon Carabante.

The new US F1 team will almost certainly not race this season as doubts increase about their future. They will not make any of the first four races, are two months away from having a car and have insufficient funds

Lotus came through courtesy of Heikki Kovalainen for 18th place on 2m 00.873s. Team mate Jarno Trulli shadowed him with 2m 00.990s, which left the green and yellow cars comfortably ahead of the black and red Virgins. Timo Glock lapped his VR-01 in 2m 02.037s, with team mate Lucas di Grassi close on 2m 02.188s.

1 Nico Rosberg / Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 1:55.409
2 Lewis Hamilton/ McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.854
3 Michael Schumacher/ Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 1:55.903
4 Jenson Button/ McLaren-Mercedes 1:56.076
5 Sebastian Vettel/ RBR-Renault 1:56.459
6 Nico Hulkenberg/ Williams-Cosworth 1:56.501
7 Felipe Massa/ Ferrari 1:56.555
8 Vitaly Petrov/ Renault 1:56.750
9 Fernando Alonso/ Ferrari 1:57.140
10 Pedro de la Rosa/ BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:57.255
11 Kamui Kobayashi/ BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:57.352
12 Adrian Sutil/ Force India-Mercedes 1:57.361
13 Rubens Barrichello/ Williams-Cosworth 1:57.452
14 Vitantonio Liuzzi/ Force India-Mercedes 1:57.833
15 Robert Kubica/ Renault 1:58.155
16 Jaime Alguersuari/ STR-Ferrari 1:59.799
17 Mark Webber/ RBR-Renault 2:00.444
18 Heikki Kovalainen/ Lotus-Cosworth 2:00.873
19 Jarno Trulli/ Lotus-Cosworth 2:00.990
20 Timo Glock/ Virgin-Cosworth 2:02.037
21 Lucas di Grassi/ Virgin-Cosworth 2:02.188
22 Bruno Senna/ HRT-Cosworth 2:06.968
23 Sebastien Buemi/ STR-Ferrari No time
24 Karun Chandhok/ HRT-Cosworth No time

GrumpyBodger wrote:Formula Uno
The Ferrari F1 team fired their entire pit crew yesterday.

awesome...

Here's a shot from practice at Bahrain today......

A good first run at a GP meeting!

Congratulations to Lotus Racing for completing their first qualifying session of 2010. Shame that Timo beat us to the fastest of the newbies but it's all about the Grand Prix tomorrow and I'm sure they will have the pace over Virgin and maybe a few others. Surprising to see McLaren struggling so soon in the year again but a good start for Vettel and Ferrari.

yes it is disapointing that we didn't get into qually 2 but...
Is it a clever plan ????
I like the way they got good laps in , mileage under the belt. I think both drivers did half the race over two days.
To finish first - first you have to finish.
If they can keep improving at a comfortable pace who knows!!
good luck
pete

For those of you that missed the Team Lotus interview on 'The Grid F1' talk it can be viewed at www.Grid1.tv. It was on this morning at 8.30 ish.

Button's dangerously close to Schumi on the Grid; I hope he survives it

Good viewing to all!
John

Are you ready?!

Where did you get that?????
Gotta have one
John

lol thats where the flag got to!

great race guys!!

Brilliant race! BOTH Lotus's managed a finish (just) and were the only new team to achieve such ... heeheehee! Nice to see my 'second' team Ferrari start the new season with a one-two finish and congratulations to Massa especially.

Trigger wrote:Brilliant race! BOTH Lotus's managed a finish (just) and were the only new team to achieve such ... heeheehee! Nice to see my 'second' team Ferrari start the new season with a one-two finish and congratulations to Massa especially.

its not a second team its a back up to say u pick winners!! tuh

An absoloutely outstanding result for the team's first GP. To get both cars home is little short of a miracle and the team deserve nothing but praise.

If it helps put things in perspective, this is a much better result than Team Lotus managed at their GP debut in 1958 at Monaco where both cars retired..... you can only go up from there.

Today's performance was so good for a debut that it could get worse............

Excellent. Outstanding. Brilliant.

This just received from Tom Webb.........
Bahrain, 14th March 2010

Six months of very hard work finally came to as successful a conclusion as the team could have hoped for on Sunday afternoon in Bahrain, with both Lotus Racing cars finishing the race, Heikki in 15^th and Jarno in 17^th (provisional positions) in the opening round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Racing chassis T127/3) “I made a good start and avoided the accident at the second corner but found myself in the gravel so at this stage I was nearly last, but then I started picking up pace and catching the people in front. The car was understeering quite a lot and I couldn’t really predict the balance so at the pitstop the team, who did a really good job, changed the front wing setting and I started pushing again and putting in some good laps. At the end of the race I had a hydraulic problem so I just had to get it to the end of the race. I’m really happy and proud for the team because in six months every single target we have fixed we have met so it’s really good, and, as Tony said, one day Lotus will win and I hope to be here when we do.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Racing chassis T127/1) “It was a good race for our team - to get both cars to the finish is a great achievement. My car didn’t have a single problem, I know Jarno did and managed to nurse his car to the end, but the primary goal was to get both cars to the end and we achieved that. So far the team has reached every goal we set ourselves so that is fantastic. In terms of my race, I had a good start and was battling with a lot of guys we didn’t think we’d be fighting with. My tyres were fine, and the pitstop was good, but I lost a bit of time whilst letting cars past, and we’ll look at the strategy for Australia to work around that better. I really enjoyed driving the car, it felt really good and it was good to push. Everybody in the team should be really happy but now the honeymoon is over and we need to start working on better results.”

Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne said “I’m very very proud of the whole team. Everyone here, and back in Hingham. Firstly I have to say thank you to both drivers. They drove great races – Jarno struggling early on but when he changed to the soft tyre he was much more competitive. Apologies to Heikki because he may have suffered from the strategy, and apologies to Jarno because he had a hydraulics problem and he had to slow down to get the car to the finish, but overall a great result.”

Happiest man of all was Team Principal Tony Fernandes who said “I’m completely over the moon! I cannot describe the feeling. Six months of work and to have both cars finish is just unbelievable. We’re thrilled, we’re happy and the spirit in the team is fantastic. I’m really proud of Jarno and of Heikki and everyone here. It’s a great start and better than I could have dreamt of. We wanted to finish the race and to do so ahead of established teams is fantastic.

From here we keep going. Before the race Clive Chapman gave me Colin Chapman’s old Lotus cap and said ‘when you win the first race you’ll be the man to throw this up in the air like my Dad used to.’ That meant a lot to me, it was a wonderful gesture and it’s like handing over the mantle of one of motor racing’s great dynasties”

Visitors to the Lotus Racing garage before the race included FIA President Jean Todt and Michelle Yeoh, but the day began with Tony Fernandes giving the team a stirring speech to thank everyone for the hard work so far, and lay out the challenge ahead, saying “The last six months have shown that if you dream you can achieve, but now it’s not about being the best of the new teams, it’s about making a serious challenge for the very top.” With a start like this, who could blame him for pushing for something truly amazing.

Impressive start by the team, lets hope they can build on that and challenge the established teams like Toro-rosso on a regular basis.

Looking forward to what in my view should also have been the first grand prix weekend .. Australia.

Below are the press releases from Lotus Racing over the last few days. Clearly there was great disappointment at Jarno not starting on Sunday. Every team has some bad luck and Lotus Racing had some on Sunday with 03. On the other hand, it's now three finishes from four starts and that'a a good record by any standard but for a brand new team it is really quite exceptional. Well done to everyone and particularly Heikki in 01.

If it helps put things in perspective, this is a much better result than Team Lotus managed at their GP debut in 1958 at Monaco where both cars retired..... you can only go up from there.

Somebody needs to give Jarno a hug!


LOTUS RACING POST-BAHRAIN / PRE-MELBOURNE THOUGHTS: TONY FERNANDES
Melbourne, Australia 26th March 2010

Lotus Racing arrived in Melbourne, Australia, set for round two of the 2010 Formula One™ World Championship. After exceeding expectations for a six month old team in Bahrain, with both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen’s cars being classified and being the only new team to see one of its cars past the finish line, attention now turns to Albert Park’s street circuit and the challenges that it presents. After such a great opening performance the atmosphere in the team is better than ever and the huge number of visitors dropping by to say congratulations in Melbourne, and the massive volume of fans giving fantastic feedback online, attests to the ever growing popularity of Lotus Racing from within the sport, amongst F1 fans, and in the growing number of general sports fans being attracted to such an open, honest team.

Kicking off with his thoughts on Bahrain and Australia is Tony Fernandes, Lotus Racing Team Principal, who will be flying in on Saturday night to join the team for the race on Sunday: “Australia is a special place for me – it’s where I spent my gap year when I was younger, where I did a lot of work in the music business, and learnt a huge amount about that industry, and where Air Asia X has a very strong stake. The whole weekend will be great, but Sunday will be a special day for me and the many Australian Lotus owners when we see the T127 on track and mixing it with the world’s best. After our great start in Bahrain we are continuing to stay realistic, and in Melbourne we are again aiming to finish and learn as much as we can in our ever deepening quest to get to the top. I can’t wait to get there!”


LOTUS RACING POST-BAHRAIN / PRE-MELBOURNE THOUGHTS: HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
Melbourne, Australia 26th March 2010

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01): “After Bahrain I decided to go back to my European home in Switzerland, and spent nearly a week there. First, obviously, I was recovering from the Bahrain Grand Prix and then I had a few good training sessions before a quick day trip to Helsinki in Finland to meet some media. Then we flew to Australia on Saturday, and have been here since then; getting used to the time zone and doing a little bit of training and playing some golf while enjoying the sunshine.

“It’s very good to come here, the Australians are always very very friendly people. At the gate there were hundreds of people lined up waiting for the drivers to arrive and it’s such a festival atmosphere. The weather always seems to be great here too, usually sunny, and it’s good to come from the European winter to the sunshine and enjoy the city. It’s a great city, so many cool restaurants and there’s always plenty to do, so you could never get bored here.

“Albert Park is a very different circuit in comparison to Bahrain; it’s a semi-street circuit, so the surface is different, and the grip - especially on Friday morning - will be quite poor initially, but will improve quite a lot throughout the weekend, so we’ll need to keep on top of that and perhaps adjust the set up a little bit. Again, with a street circuit, the walls are very close to the track so you have to be up to it – you can’t just brake as late as possible and miss the apex and then try a bit better and brake a little earlier. You’ve got to go little by little and hopefully nail it in qualifying.

“You’ve got to use every bit of the track, every millimetre of the circuit. It looks more dramatic from the outside, but we’re used to it. Maximise as much as possible so you’ve got more room to get quickly through the next corner.”


LOTUS RACING POST-BAHRAIN / PRE-MELBOURNE THOUGHTS: JARNO TRULLI
Melbourne, Australia 26th March 2010

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03): “After Bahrain I went back to Europe and stayed in contact with the engineers to analyse the hydraulics issues we had in the race in Bahrain, try to see how we could improve the performance of the car and review the general operations of the team during the race weekend, which were really good!

“Then I flew into Australia on Sunday night, so I’m still a little bit jetlagged – it’s a pretty hard trip coming over here – the ten hour time difference means it’s always difficult to adapt, but we just have to get on with it.

“On previous visits over here I’ve made a few trips out to the countryside, having a look at the local vineyards and enjoying the weather. I love coming here - Australia’s a great country with great people, so I always enjoy myself here. It’s also good to try some good wines, some different local varieties, but I still prefer my own wine.....

"On the track itself – it’s very important here to have good braking, good stability and really solid traction. There aren’t so many high speed corners here – it’s all about braking and accelerating out of slow speed corners, and as it’s a bit bumpy you really have to have good braking points and good braking stability from the car. All in all I’m looking forward to building on the result in Bahrain, learning more about the car and enjoying the weekend.”


LOTUS RACING POST-BAHRAIN / PRE-MELBOURNE THOUGHTS
MIKE GASCOYNE Melbourne, Australia 26th March 2010

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer: “Since Bahrain we’ve been working very hard back in the factory, pushing further on the new package for Barcelona, so the guys have been working hard in the wind tunnel as well as focusing on the expansion of our drawing office. We’re in the process of closing down the drawing office in Cologne, which means migrating all the data as well as the ongoing work. On top of all that we’ve been looking at some of the problems we had in Bahrain and how we can fix them, so overall we’ve been very busy.

“Obviously doing all that and then coming straight to Australia, having to deal with the jetlag, the distance and the time difference isn’t easy, especially as you get older, but it is part and parcel of the job and you just have to get on with it.

“One thing I really have enjoyed has been the feedback to the tweets we put out over the race weekend in Bahrain. Tony Fernandes has said he wants us to be very open as a team, and do things a little differently, so we’ve started doing that with Twitter and it’s something we’ll do more of in the future.

“Turning attention to Melbourne – the circuit here is not often used for motor racing, there are some bumps around the track and it’s pretty hard on brakes. We know the changes in setup we need to make and we have a couple of aero updates here which should bring a tenth or two, so overall we’re looking forward to the weekend."


LOTUS RACING MELBOURNE GRAND PRIX FRIDAY PRACTICE 1
Melbourne, Australia 26th March 2010

A sunny day in Melbourne welcomed Lotus Racing to their first practice session of round two of the 2010 Formula One™ season. Both drivers were keen to get going and test the cars on the semi-street track of Albert Park, and once again, a Lotus Cosworth was out first, Jarno Trulli being first car on track.

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Cosworth T127-01): 26 laps, best time 1.31.654: “First session was good - pretty much how we were planning to do it. We had a little problem with the differential but we managed to work around it. It meant that the car wasn’t quite performing 100% but it’s no big deal, and we were able to put some good laps in and check the car, the balance and the tyres and we’re pretty happy about it – all in all I feel very comfortable in the car.”

Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Cosworth T127-03) 13 laps, best time 1.31.654: “We had a small issue but in the end we put in two good runs which meant we could check the balance and the tyres. It’s good to be back in Melbourne and running and I’m looking forward to having a better session this afternoon.”


LOTUS RACING MELBOURNE GRAND PRIX FRIDAY PRACTICE 2
Melbourne, Australia 26th March 2010

The second practice session on Friday afternoon in Melbourne began under cloudy skies with light rain falling, curtailing track time for Lotus Racing throughout the afternoon session. Despite this the team ran a solid session and finished ahead of both other new teams having completed a total of 32 laps in second practice, with Jarno Trulli finishing the session 20th (17 laps / 30 laps total) with a best time of 1.30.695 and Heikki Kovalainen 18th on 1.29.860 (15 laps / 41 laps total).

Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Cosworth T127-03): “It’s been a bit of a difficult day because we lost a bit of time this morning, and unfortunately this afternoon the track was pretty wet so we couldn’t really find a good set up. When I went out I had a few issues with understeer but, though it’ll be a little difficult tomorrow, we’ll see what we can learn in final practice before qualifying starts.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Cosworth T127-01): “The second session was much better for me, because the car functioned very well and we had the differential working 100%. The car felt really really good and we were very pleased with the way it was behaving. Obviously the rain disrupted things a little bit, but everyone was in the same boat. So, we’re well prepared, and we’re just going to try to maintain the reliability that we’ve achieved so far. Overall we’re in really good shape.”

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer: “Obviously the second session was affected by rain, which made it difficult, but we were able to run both types of tyre and get a feeling for how they both behave. Overall not a bad day – we got through most of our program, despite the conditions in the second session, so I’m pretty pleased.


LOTUS RACING MELBOURNE GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING SESSION
Melbourne, Australia 27th March 2010

The rain held off for Saturday’s running in Melbourne as Lotus Racing took to the track in earnest, keen to maintain their ‘best of the new teams’ record. Throughout the 3rd Practice both cars ran well, with Italian driver Jarno Trulli finishing with a time of 1.29.800 after 16 laps and Heikki Kovalainen completing 19 laps on a best time of 1.29.539. In qualifying itself Lotus Racing successfully maintained their record of best new team, finishing with Heikki Kovalainen 19th on 1:28:797 and Jarno Trulli 20th on 1.29.111.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Cosworth T127-03): “I had a problem with the seat which meant it wasn’t easy to drive, bouncing around in the car, so it was a difficult qualifying session. I’m pleased for the team though, as both cars are ahead of the new teams and we’re performing really well. It’s good to see that we have quite a big gap to the other new teams on this track and we’re very satisfied with that – we’re confident for tomorrow and we’ll do our best to try and finish the race again.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Cosworth T127-01): “It was a good run this afternoon. I got a good lap out of the car and out of the tyres and in general the car feels much better than it did in Bahrain. We have progressed with the set up, and as a team we are really stepping forward. Our aim for tomorrow is to make sure we stay ahead of the other new teams, and finish the race with both cars. I’m so happy with Lotus, and feel I have the chance to show what I can really do.”

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer: “It was a good solid job in qualifying, both drivers did very well and got the most out of the cars, and I’m very happy with the whole team. Apologies to Jarno for the seat problem, which must have hindered him. One area we’re very pleased with is the growing relationship with Cosworth from whom we’ve had excellent reliability to date.”

Team Principal Tony Fernandes rounded up the day’s achievement saying “Once again Lotus Racing has done us proud. Consistency and reliability are still our key aims, and the whole team has successfully maintained our quiet progress. Next step is to take the fight to Toro Rosso and BMW Sauber and we’ll keep on fighting to achieve that. As you know Australia is an important place for me, and I – along with all our fans and Clive’s lucky cap - am very much looking forward to seeing Lotus once again on the grid in Melbourne.


LOTUS RACING MELBOURNE GRAND PRIX
Melbourne, Australia 28th March 2010

A mixed day for Lotus Racing at the Melbourne Grand Prix saw Heikki Kovalainen finish the race in 13th place, once again ahead of the other new teams, but Jarno Trulli failed to make the start due to a hydraulics issue on the grid.

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01): “I enjoyed it today, I had good fun out there. Our target was to finish the race and from the start we were quite comfortably ahead of the new teams. When Glock dropped I just focused on keeping up a decent rhythm, not making any mistakes and bringing the car home. It’s difficult to say whether a different strategy would have worked better - if we’d stopped once more and put a fresh set of tyres on, that might have been better way to go, but our target was to finish the race and we achieved that again. Now we go to Malaysia with a good feeling and we’re all looking forward to that.”

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03): “Unfortunately we couldn’t start the race today because we had a hydraulic failure on the grid and, despite the team’s best efforts, we couldn’t fix it in time to make the race. We’ll work now to fix that for Malaysia and I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can do in Sepang.”

Mike Gascoyne “Obviously a very disappointing start. Jarno had a hydraulic power pack fail on the grid, not something we’ve seen before and we couldn’t get it changed in time. Balancing that was another strong race from Heikki who did really well staying out on the option tyre. He made a good start but lost a few places after the accident on the opening lap, but he did a great job to get the car home, keeping us tenth in the championship. And congratulations to Karun Chandhok for getting a finish!”

Tony Fernandes “I guess we’ve got to have had some bad luck at some point and unfortunately it was today. I’m disappointed for Jarno, but Heikki did us proud - three places away from a point, and he was keeping pace with most of the other cars throughout the race. Maybe it would have been nice if three other cars had gone out so we could get a point, but, joking aside, it is good that at this stage of the season we’re already thinking about points. We’re in a nice position for Malaysia. We’re looking forward to going home, and really looking forward to giving our fans something to shout about.”

Well, things continue to go well for theteam with both cars making the finish last weekend despite a lengthy stop for Heikki. All in all, Heikki seems to be more at home with the car than Jarno but there is no doubting the car's reliability. No doubt some of that will have to be sacrificed in the quest for speed but the current rate of prgress should see the team scoring a point or two before ere long. These reports below are from Tom Webb at Lotus Racing.


Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1st April 2010

Lotus Racing heads into the weekend’s race feeling confident about maintaining their positive start to the season at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Lotus Racing also looks forward to welcoming Malaysian driver Fairuz Fauzy to his first practice on Friday morning, where he will be taking the Lotus Cosworth T127–01 around the Sepang Circuit.

Fairuz commented “First of all I’m very pleased to be back home, and I’m very happy to have been given the opportunity to drive on Friday – it’ll be a good chance to test the track and the driving conditions, and I feel very happy to be back in F1™ driving for Lotus Racing in my home country of Malaysia after my last run in Barcelona. The car is much improved from the past two races and I hope we can continue the good development.”

Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne said: “We left Australia with mixed feelings – delighted that Heikki finished and showed, again, that our initial focus on building a reliable car is paying off, but sorry for Jarno that he didn’t have the chance to start the race because of a failure that was out of our control. We go into this weekend determined to give both drivers the chance to maintain our good start to the season – we’ve finished three out of four so far and I want to make it five out of six at Sepang.

“On a personal level it’s great to be back in Malaysia and give the fans the chance to show what we’ve been working on since September last year. I spent a lot of time here with Tony, Din and Nasa when we were putting the entry together, and when we launched the team, and it’s just great to be back here with two races done, and to show that the dream we had, and the hard work we’re all putting in, is starting to pay off.

“The race this weekend will be another tough one for us – the temperature and the weather will obviously play a big part in our strategy for the weekend, but I’m confident we’ll be able to build on the solid start we’ve had so far, and put on a good show for our Malaysian fans.”

Turning attention to the race itself, Heikki and Jarno both echoed Mike’s comments, with Heikki saying “I’ve always looked forward to the Sepang race. It’s a technical circuit, one that puts heavy demands on your fitness level and pays you back if you find a good rhythm. I trained well over the winter and am feeling really good, physically and mentally, so I’m looking forward to the challenge, and after Bahrain and Melbourne my confidence levels in the car continue to grow, so basically I’m looking forward to getting on with it. I’ve also had the chance to play a bit of golf on Wednesday, so for me it looks like this will be a great week!”

Jarno added: “I was obviously disappointed not to start in Melbourne, but that makes me even more determined to do well in Malaysia. I know the team and our suppliers have been putting in the hours to fix the problem we had, so I just want to get back on track and push. Sepang’s a hard race for sure – the heat and the humidity can make it pretty uncomfortable, but it’s the same for everyone and maybe my experience helps me cope with it better than some. I like the track itself – finding a decent setup is a challenge as it’s pretty hard on brakes and tyres, and it’ll be interesting to see how the car behaves with full tanks around here, but I’ll do my best and we’ll see what happens.”

Rounding off the Lotus Racing team’s thoughts on its Malaysian homecoming is Team Principal Tony Fernandes, who said: “It’s difficult to put into words just how happy I am to see Lotus Racing in Malaysia, and to see the reaction of the fans to our arrival here. It proves to me that I’m right about chasing your dreams. Just over six months ago I said we’d be here, and quite a few very experienced, very clever people said it couldn’t be done – you couldn’t build an F1™ team from scratch, literally from just an entry, to not just racing, but racing professionally, like we’ve been here for many years, in just six months, but we’ve done it and we’re here. I’m so proud – not just of everyone in the team for the hard work they’ve put in since September and continue to do so every day, but also of every single one of our fans around the world, and particularly here in Malaysia, my home and one of the homes of Lotus Racing. We are British and Malaysian, united, and I want Lotus Racing to be accessible to anyone, anywhere, globally. We’re here to show you that if you want to achieve amazing things you can. We’re living the dream right now and I’m just really pleased that everyone in Malaysia can join us in doing so.”


MALAYSIA GRAND Prix FRIDAY PRACTICE

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2nd April 2010

Friday began with Mike Gascoyne's birthday being celebrated in the garage before the action on track began in what is fast becoming Lotus Racing’s signature style, with Fairuz Fauzy in chassis T127-01 first out on track trying out a shark fin engine cover in the morning session.

Whilst replacing Heikki Kovalainen for the session he completed 19 laps with a best time of 1.40.721 in a good run in the morning heat. Jarno Trulli completed 21 laps and finished ahead of the other new teams on 1.39.460.

Before Fairuz saw the green light Tony lent into the cockpit to tell Fairuz how proud both he and the whole country was of this landmark moment. After the session was completed Tony said “It’s just unbelievable! I woke up at 6am today as I couldn’t sleep I was so excited. I’m just really pleased to see Fairuz out there with Jarno and the rest of the household names that make up the grid.

“It’s great that F1™ gives the chance for developing teams and developing countries to come to the fore and grab this sort of opportunity. It shows that the combination of British and Malaysian skills can dare to dream of competing on a global level, and can do so in an innovative, fresh way. Fairuz is a lad who has climbed the motorsport ladder - from his local roots at the kart circuit his Father built in Kuala Lumpur, to being on track in F1™ in a car built in the UK and competing all around the world. For me that’s a very clear sign of how well our Anglo-Malaysian collaboration is working, and long may that continue.”

Fairuz himself said “I feel very good, very motivated and this is really a special day for me as it’s our home run. It’s great to be back again. The last time I was in Barcelona, which is a long time ago! I’ve always said that I’ll be ready and fit, but it’s still great that I was on the pace immediately. I’m happy and I hope we can do well this weekend – the car feels great, and I think it’s faster than it was in Melbourne. It’s going to be an exciting weekend – in Malaysia, anything can happen! If it rains and we can get an advantage out of it, then that’s good.

Jarno Trulli: “It started off as a difficult day but I managed to do some good setup work and it was a positive two sessions. It seems we are competitive when compared to the other new teams but as we are ultimately aiming to fight with the top teams we are looking to get ourselves into a position where we can work on detailed setups, and that will start from Barcelona. I am pleased that today’s sessions, when compared to the previous two races, both went faultlessly and I’m very glad about that. I like the heat – I like racing in the heat as it tests fitness and I’ve always performed well here, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow and the race on Sunday.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “I’m really pleased with the car – obviously I didn’t get much time to practice today, but it felt good and I’m feeling very confident with it. I’m looking forward to the race ahead – I think we’re in really good shape. We tried a different set up with my car, and it took a few laps to get into it, but really I was very pleased and happy and looking forward to getting in the car again tomorrow. Weather wise, it is very hot and humid, and it’s difficult conditions here, but I’m feeling good and am very fit for the race.”

Mike Gascoyne: “All round a very successful day. It was good to have Fairuz in the car this morning and he was able to complete his entire program. Heikki took over the car in the afternoon and was also able to finish his planned program - evaluating the tyres and the race pace of the car. We had no mechanical issues on either car and in general I’m very pleased with the progress we’re making, so well done to the whole team.”

Rounding off the day in Malaysia was Tony Fernandes who said “Great day – we did everything we wanted to do and I’m extremely pleased. We’re getting better and better so let’s hope we continue this tomorrow in qualifying. We are being realistic though – points aren’t in my mind. I just want to finish the race, get both cars home and keep our feet on the ground. Of course I’m still dreaming – I put Colin Chapman’s cap on the pit wall to remind everyone of what we’re aspiring to, but we’ll get there in the right way, and the dream continues.”





MALAYSIA GRAND Prix QUALIFYING

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3rd April 2010

ANOTHER STEP FORWARD FOR LOTUS RACING


Saturday’s qualifying session saw Lotus Racing’s sunny faces beaming through the rain as another important milestone was achieved, with Heikki Kovalainen going into his first Q2 with the team and finishing 15th (1.52.270) after a clever strategy took advantage of the heavy rain that started falling just before the session began. Jarno Trulli (18th, 1.52.884) narrowly missed out on Q2 but was satisfied he did all he could in tricky conditions.

Heikki Kovalainen (T127-01): “I’m so pleased! I really like these conditions – it’s very hard to judge your speed and you really have to take some risks, and all the time you’re feeling like you might lose the car, but that’s the challenge and I love it! On some parts of the track it was very wet and raining hard, and on others it wasn’t so much. Getting to Q2 really exceeds expectations for me and the whole team – yes of course we’ve been a little bit lucky today for sure, but it means we beat the other new teams, again! Although we were lucky, we played our strategy just right -if you look at the McLarens and Ferraris they didn’t think it was going to rain that much and look what happened. They missed their window at the beginning of the session and we took full advantage of it. Now I can’t wait to race tomorrow!”

Jarno Trulli: “It was disappointing because I was doing very well. Unfortunately on my quickest lap a car spun in front of me, which impeded me through the second and third sector so I couldn’t close my fast lap; and then the rain was getting worse, so there was no chance to improve on lap time. Still – we’ll do our best tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”

Mike Gascoyne: “Obviously we’re all very very pleased to get a car into Q2 and Heikki did a tremendous job to get us there! I’m disappointed for Jarno as he got traffic on the lap that would have got him in. I think we got all the calls on the tyres right on the pit wall and in Q2 we ran the whole session on intermediates, which was clearly the thing to do. We made a change five minutes before the end, and Heikki got in a good clear lap to get P15. Well done to the whole team, and especially to Tony, for such success at one of our two home races – I know he’s very very proud.”

Team Principal Tony Fernandes was almost lost for words: “I’m speechless! What a day! To get 15th place in our home country, in front of our home crowd is amazing. I’m over the moon and just so excited. We gave the Toro Rossos a run for their money today and Jarno was just unfortunate to get blocked, otherwise he’d have been in Q2 as well. Tomorrow’s another day, and we’ll see what happens, but it’s a good step forward. Today we’ll enjoy it, and we’ll live for the day, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”



MALAYSIA GRAND Prix RACE DAY

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 4th April 2010

Lotus Racing’s Malaysian Grand Prix saw both cars cross the finish line at the Sepang Circuit, Jarno Trulli in 17th and Heikki Kovalainen unclassified, ten laps down at the flag.

After a visit to the garage from the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and the Badminton World Number One player Datuk Lee Chong Wei, both cars were poised and ready when the red lights went out. Heikki Kovalainen, who started in 15th place after a very good qualifying session, had a tricky race. Off the grid his Lotus Racing Cosworth T127-01 was caught in a tussle with Lucas Di Grassi which caused a left rear puncture, leading to a quick pit stop on lap 12. 20 laps in he had to pit again with a hydraulics issue but his pitcrew were determined not to give up and he was soon back out on track to complete the race.

Heikki Kovalainen: “It was still a very positive race for us, despite the issues. My start wasn’t fantastic and it meant I dropped immediately to the back. After that I got into a good rhythm, but started to see some issues on the dash. I tried to make a move on Di Grassi, but clipped his front wing when I was going past and damaged my left rear tyre, so had to come in to pit. Even with the problems we had the car was competitive and I was very comfortable. Compared to the other new teams our times are very competitive indeed, so I’m not going to let this race trouble me – we learned a lot and now we’ll move on and look ahead to China.”

Jarno Trulli, in 18th position at the start, was in an early tangle with Timo Glock, but he managed to push through, finishing the race in 17th place. “We made a good start, but then on the second lap I was hit by Glock, which made me spin, and from then on my race was compromised. Despite that I got the car home to the end and that shows our focus on reliability has been worth the effort.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “The beauty of sport is that you have highs and lows, and after the high of yesterday, with Heikki in Q2, it was a bit of a low today. Jarno had some handling problems due to damaged bodywork at the rear, and did a great job to bring the car home. With Heikki, he had some very high temperatures which we managed to fix in the pit, and as soon as he was out again he was very competitive, took the car to the flag, and really showed what the car was capable of. So it was disappointing, but at least we managed to get two cars to the flag. We’ve learned a lot and are looking to move on and be on good form for China.”

Team Principal Tony Fernandes: “It was good to get two finishes; obviously we’re unhappy with the position, but as we’ve always said it’s a major achievement just to finish. And we did - as you could see later Heikki’s car had good pace, so that’s encouraging. We take a lot away from this weekend, and we’ll take everything we have learned with us to China, and from Barcelona, as we’ve always said, we’ll be looking to build on the very solid start to the season. I’m proud of the effort the whole team put in today in tough, hot conditions, and we’re here to fight another day.”

As we thought, still a bit slow but reliable,(better than Schuey!) lets hope they start to quicken up in the next few races, good read though..lots to digest.

Tim.