2012 Lotus E20

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

What´s even worse is that they have to crash test the tub again.

Might have to.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

The two Autosport articles contradict each other. One quotes Eric Boullier as saying that they will have it fixed and ready for next week, while the analysis article speculates that they might have to rebuild the chassis and won't even have two of them ready for Australia

Also, if I remember it correctly, Renault already had problems with the chassis last season, because it deformed a tiny bit which would then have a huge impact on the car...

Boullier even said on F1.com that they will be back tomorrow with the other chassis.
I don't buy anything he says until i actually see it.

I think Gary might be on to something but we have to see what really happens.
This is not good...

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Renault will not be back for tomorrow. Just as it says on F1.com

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Renault will not be back for tomorrow. Just as it says on F1.com

Eric Boullier said, "we will be back tomorrow" in an interview on F1.
Check for yourself if you think i'm lying.

This is why i don't believe anything that comes out of his mouth.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

That's what he said around 12:00 GMT today, and that was the plan at that time. Then, around 17:30 GMT some more news appeared.

"Before we were due to fly chassis E20-01 out to Barcelona in replacement of chassis E20-02 - damaged this morning - we ran a series of simulations at the factory based on the data provided by our brief running on track today,"
"As a result, we were able to identify an area which requires some additional work. It will be more productive for us to carry out these modifications to both chassis at Enstone rather than send E20-01 out to this week's test. "

So, I'm not a big fan of Boullier, but I think it is a fair thing. At 1200 they knew that the second chassis was a bit off. So, then they just had to bring the first chassis down.
But after further testing, which they couldn't have done at 1200, they realized that it would be better to work on both (and maybe more) chassis than trying to test with a chassis that might have the same fault. I really don't see the problem with that.

Or are you saying that it is better to just shut it, and not tell anyone anything at 1200, and not do anything before 1730, and then tell it all?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Or are you saying that it is better to just shut it, and not tell anyone anything at 1200, and not do anything before 1730, and then tell it all?

Yea. I would say "i have no idea, we need more time" because obviously he did not know what was even wrong with the car then.
Instead of finding out exactly what is the problem, make a decision on E20-01 and then go to media and let them know exactly what will happen and what has happened.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Kimi doesn't disappoint, this article is best read from the source, the language is a bit NSFW..

http://en.espnf1.com/lotusf1/motorsport/story/71373.html

"It's not a lack of motivation if your car is s#¤t and even if you drive your best and still can't get a good result. My feeling is that I drove one of my best years in my last year for Ferrari. I've never had a problem with motivation."

 

[Eric Parker]

I wonder if that interview was done at the bar?

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Lotus lost the extra practice session. FIA was very strict: practiceban starts 4th; one full week before the race week until the rest of the year. So everybody who doesn't get the practices done by the end of this week will not be getting any extra days.. All the teams supported Lotus but FIA stopped it.. Sad but understandable, all have agreed to follow certain set of rules.

source: Iltalehti

 

[Chris Jenkins]

That sucks for them.
Not so much for Ferrari and Red Bull though as that was merely a strategic decision.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

 

[Mark Jameson]

Are the blue strips some sort of heat sensor? sort of like the 1's you can get for your head?

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Are the blue strips some sort of heat sensor? sort of like the 1's you can get for your head?

Yeah I believe they are. These strips change color if they reach a certain temperature, so afterwards you can check the maximum temperature reached in a certain area. Like this one

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Pretty interesting sidepods. The above bulge is old, Ferrari has used that among other teams but i´ve never seen the lower bulge be used before.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

The frontwing has interesting shape too.. From the cockpit it looks like diffuser reversed.. It has two vertical shapes on each side and they are quite large.

Didn't find any real footage but this simulator image shows them too, scroll up to see it from the front: http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/lotus-e20.46508/page-5#post-1076387

This is quite funny too:

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Here´s a good picture, nevermind the first one,

It´s been there since launch car and they sure are interesting.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Oh, there are three of those... Would've somehow imagined them being curved away from the wheel but now they direct it to the wheel.. Could they be blowing some air on top of the wheel, that would be very effective. That little winglet (don't know the terminology in english.. wing? vane? winglet? whatever, that thing in top of the sidepods) could be directing the resulting turbulent air away from hte car.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Yea the first two (let´s use the left wing side) are very common with the bridge connecting it to the endplate at the far left but as far as i know they are alone with the third big element.

Agree, it´s an interesting angle, i think it looks more pointed to the wheel then it really is, i think it´s slightly more angled so when seen from above it will try to send air "around" the outside of the tire.
the biggest element i think is the one sending some of the air above tire.

Yea those sharkfins on the sidepod are very interesting, probably as you say, to divert turbulent airflow.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Pretty aggressive "wicker" on the beam wing.