Lotus Opts Out of Jerez Test for More Development

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will not take part in the first Formula One test of the season at Jerez on January 28 in favor of taking more development time for its car. Instead, Lotus will not test the car publicly until the Bahrain test on February 19.

"We're going to keep our car under wraps a little longer than some other teams. We've decided that attending the Jerez test isn't ideal for our build and development program,” said Lotus Technical Director Nick Chester.

"We are likely to unveil the car before attending the Bahrain tests, and in Bahrain we should really be able to put the car through its paces in representative conditions."

He said that the team has completed fittings for Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado and crash tested the car. It still needs to complete the FIA nose crash test.

The trade-off allows Lotus to watch other teams and see how their designs perform and gives them more time to develop the next Lotus Formula One car. However, it will mean that the new car will have less on-track development.

There is still time for other teams to announce that they will also take advantage of the extra development time and skip the Jerez test.

Source: Euro Sport