Lotus (F1 Preview)

Many changes have happened to former Lotus Renault GP team going into the 2012 season. The name Renault has been dropped and after Robert Kubica failed to be on form to make his comeback to the sport, the team had to call up for backups.

Kimi Raikkonen is making his return to F1 after making adventures in the World Rally Championship and NASCAR. He had extra training with the R31 in order to regain confidence on the wheels of the single seater.To fill up the gap left by Vitaly Petrov Lotus promoted test driver Romain Grosjean to the second race seat.

Last season the team definitely missed Kubica’s performances but they want to turn the page over and start a new chapter by betting on a new car which showed good performance during winter testing.

The Lotus F1 Team calls its 2012 car the E20. Like the rest of the cars of 2012 it uses the step-down nose that, according to commentators, make it look like a platypus. It also has the complicated front wing that has been shown on the other cars. 

The 'E' in the car's name stands for Enstone, which is the location of the team's testing facility in Oxfordshire, England. Like all F1 teams, Lotus F1 had to remove its blown exhaust diffuser. The team also reworked the front and rear suspension to provide more aerodynamic grip. The team also built a new wind tunnel that would allow them to test the car at 60% scale. 

The car also marks Kimi Raikkonnen's return to Formula 1 after two years racing in the WRC and NASCAR.

Quotes:

Kimi Raikkonen

“It’s nice to get back into a Formula 1 car. It didn’t take long to get used to driving again, I had no trouble feeling where to turn, accelerate and brake, but obviously adjusting to the new car and tyres will take slightly longer. It’s not like when I went from Formula 1 to rallying before, that’s a totally different sport. The conditions and style are completely the opposite to rallying; the only similarity is that you’re driving a car!”

Romain Grosjean

“Formula One is a big, big challenge, but I think the biggest challenge personally will be to get 100 per cent out of myself and the car, every time. No mistakes. That is the life of a Formula One driver. You need to get 100 per cent out of the car, focus, concentrate and improve lap after lap. So I hope we can have a good car from the beginning of the season, some good ambitions going into the first race and just develop all season long.”

“From what I’ve seen of the new car so far, I can say that the colours are the same! We will see when get on the track. Hopefully it will be a good car and we can give it a nice nickname after the first test. Then we will try to improve it lap after lap and session after session.”