Jump to content

litp.jpg

Lotus in the Peak
27th - 29th June 2025
  • Welcome to Midlands Lotus Owners Club (MLOC)

    Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to contribute to this site by submitting your own content or replying to existing content. You'll be able to customize your profile, receive reputation points as a reward for submitting content, while also communicating with other members via your own private inbox, plus much more!

    This message will be removed once you have signed in.

Mark H
Mark H

Alesi: Well Done Jenson!

Group Lotus F1 ambassador Jean Alesi gives us his thoughts on the Hungarian Grand Prix.

It was the first time this season that Lotus Renault GP failed to finish in the points. You must be disappointed…

 

It's clear the performance of the team relative to our rivals is dropping off. To be honest we were expecting a little bit more from the car. Vitaly Petrov's 12th place isn't very exciting, but then he – like half the field – made the gamble of changing to Intermediate tyres late in the race and then changing back again.

 

Things got pretty scary for Nick Heidfeld when his car overheated in the pits and caught fire. He spent a long time with the engine on the limiter with no possibility to cool the car and as a result the exhausts overheated and the surrounding bodywork caught fire - thankfully no one was seriously injured. I know the team is looking into the problem and makes sure that it won't happen again.

 

What goes through a driver's mind when he sees flames licking the cockpit?

 

Get out! Nick did everything perfectly in this situation. He parked the car away from the track, away from the pits and other cars, got out quickly, and the marshals were straight on it. I remember being in this same situations many times with Ferrari!

 

Should the fire have triggered the Safety Car? Was it safe to have marshals working on putting the fire out next to the track, and then tractor the car the wrong way up the pitlane while the race was in full swing?

 

Signaling the Safety Car is always a tricky decision because you don't want to disrupt the race, and there will always be people who are disadvantaged, or are given an advantage, or don't agree with the decision.

 

Nick parked off the track and I don't believe it was in a dangerous position, it was on the far side of the track. However, when they brought the car back up the pitlane that was a bit scary.

 

Mixed weather, mixed tyre strategies, plenty of overtaking. Was this the most interesting Hungarian Grand Prix you've ever seen?

 

Yes, because usually this race is pretty dull. There's not much opportunity for overtaking because it's so twisty and you need rain or changeable conditions to spice things up… which is what happened.

 

It was 2006 when we had another good wet race here and, ironically, Jenson Button won that one too. Congratulations on his 200th grand prix. Two more races and he'll equal my total.

 

I must say, though, I wouldn't have penalized Lewis Hamilton for spinning his car back around in front of Paul di Resta. Lewis was in the middle of the track and he was just trying to get out of the way. Di Resta wasn't approaching fast. The speed in that chicane is only 60km/h, nothing dramatic. I felt this was a harsh penalty. But by changing to Intermediate tyres, Hamilton ruled himself out of contention anyway.

 

The teams will now take a little summer break. What are you doing for your holidays Jean?

 

I'm off to Sicily, where I was born. It's a beautiful place. I have my boat there, and will be spending a lot of time swimming in the sea, gazing up at Mount Etna.

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.



Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Adventures of an S1 Elise in Germany

    Some of you will know, but for the rest, I'll be working in Germany near Mannheim until end of 2026 with 75% of my time there, and 25% back home. As i fancy doing some different roads, and I've booked two weekend driving tours with Delightful Driving company (run by Elisa Artoli), on Thursday 10th July I'll be setting of in my S1 Elise, and 4 days later I plan to arrive at my apartment. I plan to post about my driving adventures over there, so keep an eye on this blog should you be int

    Badger02
    Badger02
    Touring

    Exige V6 - Rear tyres

    Rear tyres will need changing fairly soon.................... My Exige is currently fitted with 265/35R18 rears.  The Sport 380/410/430 are fitted with 285/30R18.  Would there be any benefit in going with a bigger profile rear tyre?  I'm just looking at some options.  Cup2's are proving difficult to find.

    Guido
    Guido
    Technical Talk 7

    Formula One

    Any F1 fans on this forum? Let's discuss anything about the sport here.

    Maddox
    Maddox
    General Talk 20

    Please Post your Lotus in the Peak Pictures

    Hi All Please Post your LitP pictures for all to enjoy  

    Elisemadray
    Elisemadray
    General Talk

    Elise S3 Brakes

    The brakes on my Elise 240 FE never felt brilliant but at 2.5 years old in the cold and wet did nothing when pressed, a few pumps later and some braking happened. I took it in and the pads (oem from new) were glazed. I replaced them with Pagid RS42 and updated fluid. Difference was night and day.  Now, a year and maybe 3500 miles on and the pedal feel is a little wooden again (like can brake light or hard but nothing in between) and they are squealing really bad at town driving  speeds and lig

    Trebor_UK
    Trebor_UK
    Technical Talk 16
  • MLOC classifieds

    There have been no adverts submitted yet

  • MLOC garage

  • Member Statistics

    4,444
    Total Members
    1,800
    Most Online
    mattlawson76
    Newest Member
    mattlawson76
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Terms of Use