News
6th May 2014, 11:30
Lotus might be yet to secure a point in 2014, but they have been increasingly competitive over the first four Grands Prix and were unlucky not to score in China with Romain Grosjean.
Technical director Nick Chester believes the team have now moved ahead of Toro Rosso and McLaren in the pecking order, and expects even further gains as they prepare a series of substantial upgrades, starting this weekend in Barcelona...
Q: Describe the Chinese Grand Prix from a technical stand point?
Nick Chester: We made some good steps on engine mapping. The car was a lot more driveable due to a much better torque delivery, which helped the drivers make a big step. On top of that we completed a lot of running on the Friday, particularly with Romain, which meant vital set-up work could be undertaken and we also confirmed aerodynamic improvements on the car. These combined factors helped us to be more competitive, including P9 during the second session. In third practice we were pretty quick in the wet, and then again in qualifying we showed improved pace. Our race performance also improved, moving us ahead of Toro Rosso and McLaren in Shanghai. We have made steady progress in terms of closing the gap to all of the leading teams since Australia.
Q: Where might Romain have finished?
NC: We were unfortunate to miss out on a point or two with Romain due to the gearbox failure in the race. It was a new and rare issue but we've made preventative measures to avoid a similar scenario in the future. Pastor's (Maldonado) weekend was hampered a little by his mistake on Friday and an issue on Saturday, which necessitated a change of power unit. As a result Pastor lost most of FP3 and all of qualifying, putting him on the back foot for the race. Although we've improved the drivability of the car, Pastor wasn't quite as happy with the chassis balance as he had been in Bahrain. So he wasn't as comfortable in the car as Romain, but that may simply be due to missing out on so much track time.
Q: Was there time to assess all of the new parts?
NC: We had a huge amount to get through because we hadn't run much in the Bahrain test. We assessed over half of the new parts which is a positive and we have a lot more lined up for Barcelona.
Q:Tell us more
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/5/15781.html)
Technical director Nick Chester believes the team have now moved ahead of Toro Rosso and McLaren in the pecking order, and expects even further gains as they prepare a series of substantial upgrades, starting this weekend in Barcelona...
Q: Describe the Chinese Grand Prix from a technical stand point?
Nick Chester: We made some good steps on engine mapping. The car was a lot more driveable due to a much better torque delivery, which helped the drivers make a big step. On top of that we completed a lot of running on the Friday, particularly with Romain, which meant vital set-up work could be undertaken and we also confirmed aerodynamic improvements on the car. These combined factors helped us to be more competitive, including P9 during the second session. In third practice we were pretty quick in the wet, and then again in qualifying we showed improved pace. Our race performance also improved, moving us ahead of Toro Rosso and McLaren in Shanghai. We have made steady progress in terms of closing the gap to all of the leading teams since Australia.
Q: Where might Romain have finished?
NC: We were unfortunate to miss out on a point or two with Romain due to the gearbox failure in the race. It was a new and rare issue but we've made preventative measures to avoid a similar scenario in the future. Pastor's (Maldonado) weekend was hampered a little by his mistake on Friday and an issue on Saturday, which necessitated a change of power unit. As a result Pastor lost most of FP3 and all of qualifying, putting him on the back foot for the race. Although we've improved the drivability of the car, Pastor wasn't quite as happy with the chassis balance as he had been in Bahrain. So he wasn't as comfortable in the car as Romain, but that may simply be due to missing out on so much track time.
Q: Was there time to assess all of the new parts?
NC: We had a huge amount to get through because we hadn't run much in the Bahrain test. We assessed over half of the new parts which is a positive and we have a lot more lined up for Barcelona.
Q:Tell us more
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/5/15781.html)