Blame It On The Weatherman

Lotus F1 Team had a curtailed day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona today. Power steering issues in the morning and rain in the afternoon limited track time for Kimi Räikkönen to 43 laps.

Fast facts:

Track: Barcelona, Spain, 4.7km

Chassis: E20-01

Weather: Sunny, air 10-19°C, track 11-24°C

Programme: System checks, temperature monitoring, data correlation, set-up changes.

Laps Completed: 43

Classification: 10th, 1’25"379

Interruptions: Power steering investigation and steering rack change.

What’s next? Kimi Räikkönen will complete the final day of pre-season testing working on set-up work and a race simulation.

Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus F1 Team Race Driver:

“It was good to get in the E20 after missing testing last week. We had an issue with the power steering in the morning then we didn’t run in the wet, so it was quite a short time for me in the car today. At least we got some runs. The car was reliable when on track meaning we gained some good data for the team. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow and we can complete more laps.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“Aside from the time we lost early on it was clear that we were running a different programme from the other teams today. We were hampered by power steering issues in the morning, which took some time to rectify. Once on track, we steadily improved the car balance through the day. We opted not to run in the rain which meant we completed fewer laps today than would otherwise have been the case.”