أرشيف وسم ‘ E20 ’
Kimi Raikkonen admitted that his Friday wasn't ideal, but remains confident of a good weekend. The Finn, 3rd in the championship, told reporters prior to the weekend that he isn't expecting any major advances from Lotus until the Korean Grand Prix next weekend. "We didn’t get much running because of the issue with the KERS, but at least it happened today and we got it fixed", he said. "It wasn’t ideal for helping us find the best setup but there’s nothing you can do about […]
Lotus is doing so well because it is a "pure racing team". That is the view of Robert Kubica, the Pole who surely would have been driving this year's impressive black and gold E20. But the 27-year-old was seriously injured in a pre-season crash prior to the 2011 championship, and he is only now getting back to some minor rallying action, albeit without the full mobility of his right arm. Lotus chief Eric Boullier admitted recently that he no longer has any contact with Kubica, […]
On what was one of the team’s most difficult weekends in terms of pace, Kimi Räikkönen’s strong run to fifth place in Monza moved the Flying Finn into third position in the Drivers’ Championship, just one point off second spot. More to come? We asked the man himself… Are you looking forward to the Singapore Grand Prix? I really like going to Singapore. It’s a great place to be, I love the local food and I don’t mind the unusual times we run in the […]
Stefano Domenicali has identified former Ferrari champion Kimi Raikkonen as a real threat for the 2012 title. It is Ferrari's new number 1, Fernando Alonso, who is comfortably leading the drivers' standings by 37 points after Monza. The Spaniard has been on the podium 7 times this year so far, including 3 wins. But, despite no wins at the wheel of his black and gold Lotus, Finn Raikkonen has had 6 podiums in the same period, and is now third in the standings behind Alonso […]
Renault Sport has apologised to Red Bull Racing after an alternator failure cost Sebastian Vettel eight points in the Italian Grand Prix. In one of their worst performances of the season, a Renault powered car failed to finish higher than fifth place - courtesy of the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen - while he was joined in the top ten only by the Williams of Bruno Senna. Rémi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 head of track operations, admitted that their performance was sub-standard. "This weekend has not […]
Lotus driver Jérôme D’Ambrosio made a solid start to his Italian Grand Prix with 65 uneventful laps of Monza. Standing in for Romain Grosjean, who it serving a one-race suspension, this is D’Ambrosio’s first grand prix of the season. He finished FP1 in 15th position, a second slower than team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. In the afternoon he closed that gap to sixth-tenths and finished the session P12. “Today went pretty well overall and it feels good to be back in the car,” said the Belgian driver. […]
Belgian Jerome d'Ambrosio will contest this weekend's Italian grand prix in the place of Romain Grosjean. There was speculation Lotus might overlook its official reserve driver for the Monza seat, after team regular Grosjean was given a one-race ban by the FIA for causing the spectacular first-lap crash at Spa last Sunday. Rubens Barrichello, Jaime Alguersuari and Adrian Sutil were speculatively linked with the one-off cockpit, but it now emerges that 2011 Virgin driver d'Ambrosio, 26, will race the competitive black and gold E20. "We […]
Lotus' double DRS-inspired "device" will remain on the back-burner for yet another grand prix. The Enstone based team wanted to qualify and race the device at Spa last weekend, but Lotus changed course due to Friday's practice washout. And according to French sources sport24.com and autohebdo.fr, team boss Eric Boullier has also ruled out fitting the straightline speed-boosting concept to the E20 cars for Sunday's Italian grand prix. Sport24.com said the decision was made because of the "characteristics" of the Monza track, which is the […]
Jerome d'Ambrosio is on pole position to replace the banned Romain Grosjean at Monza. The FIA has banned Frenchman Grosjean for one race after causing the crash that ended championship contenders Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton's Belgian grand prix. Belgian d'Ambrosio, 26, is Lotus' official third driver. The 2011 Virgin race driver is managed by Lotus team boss Eric Boullier's management arm Gravity. "We'll announce the name of (Grosjean's) replacement a bit later in the week," said Boullier at Spa on Sunday. D'Ambrosio, who already […]
Lotus drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean expressed their frustration at the weather hindering their chance to test the Double DRS on the E20. "There’s not much to say about today. It was too wet to run and there was little point as the forecast is for better conditions over the next two days. I’m looking forward to driving the circuit in the dry. It’s a shame that we haven’t been able to evaluate our new developments as it would have been interesting to see […]
The buzzword in the Spa paddock is 'Lotus'. Already a standout performer of the 2012 season, the black and gold E20 is long overdue for a victory. Belgium could be just the place. Only Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher have won more times in the Ardennes than Kimi Raikkonen (4). And, for the first time in 2012, he and teammate Romain Grosjean are tipped to race the Enstone based team's new 'double DRS' innovation, which on Spa's long straights could provide a big advantage. "On […]
McLaren may also be preparing a 'double DRS'-like system for this weekend's Belgian grand prix. We reported early this month that the British team looked set to follow Mercedes and Lotus' lead in developing an iteration of the straightline speed-boosting concept. "It's not like the Lotus one, but we are studying such a system," McLaren's sporting director Sam Michael was quoted as saying. Mercedes debuted the concept early this season, and after practicing with a similar system at recent races, Lotus' technical boss James Allison […]