“We're definitely going to take a step forward with this car. However optimistic, the team that finished 10th in the 2010 F1 constructors' championship and scored zero points for the year said its expectations are reasonable. “We were trying to get that area around the driver really tight so the aerodynamicists were happy with it.” In terms of real-world performance, “The biggest design challenge was trying to package everything a bit smaller,” said chief designer Lewis Butler.
The new car's numerical designation also reflects the ongoing legal situation between the two Lotus operations, with Team Lotus electing not to follow-up with a Type 128 after naming last year's car Type 127-which was part of the historic Group Lotus's line of road and race cars.
“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.”Ī side view of the 2011 Team Lotus Formula One car. “In aero we started thinking about the new car around spring last year, a bit before any of the other departments,” confirmed Marianne Hinson, head of aerodynamics. Overall performance gains should also stem from the fact that Team Lotus's design and engineering staff had a proper time frame to create the car, whereas the T127 was rushed together by a group of ex-Toyota F1 designers working in an office in Cologne, Germany. The team switched from Cosworth to Renault power for 2011, but more importantly, it has a Red Bull Racing-supplied gearbox and hydraulic system, which should improve both performance and reliability massively. The T128 should provide a performance improvement relative to its predecessor. “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.” “There has been so much focus off-track, it's a thrill to be able to get back to talking about racing,” Fernandes said. However, team principal Tony Fernandes made it clear that the important thing for his team is to make a step forward and get past legal issues. Malaysian-owned Team Lotus beat its archrival-at least in terms of naming rights-Lotus Renault GP by some six hours, winning round one in what promises to be a long war this year.
The F1 circus is on-site for the first preseason test of the year, with on-track action scheduled to begin on Tuesday morning. Formula One's Team Lotus unveiled its 2011 Grand Prix challenger, the T128, early Monday morning just prior to this week's string of new F1-car launches at the Valencia circuit in Spain.
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