Chinese Grand Prix Fp 1 And Fp 2

Chinese Grand Prix - FP1/FP2 report - 15/04/2011

"Great acts are made up of small deeds", Lao Tzu 600BC - 531BC

Team Lotus Information

Total 2011 F1 Race venues AirAsia flies to: Nine

Hours Dell employees devoted to voluntary organisations in 2010: 200,000

Number of tyres Pirelli brings to each race for all teams: 1,800

Total laps

FP1

KOV - 13

RAZ - 9

FP2

KOV - 30

TRU - 32

Weather: Cloudy, overcast

Min/max track temperature: 23˚/31X˚

Fastest laps

FP1

KOV 1.41.579 lap 7

RAZ 1.44.542 lap 8

FP2

KOV 1.40.476 lap 18

TRU 1.41.482 lap 21

15/04/11 Runplan

Heikki Kovalainen - Chassis: T128-01

FP1

1007 - 1009: Installation (1 lap)

1009 - 1035: System checks

1035 - 1049: Run 2, 7 laps

1049 - 1102: Adjustments: Front wing flap, rear ride height, front torsion bar

1102 - 1112: Run 3, 5 laps

FP2

1400 - 1412: Run 1, 7 laps

1412 - 1425: Setup change inc. wing, ride height and suspension

1425 - 1440: Run 2, 8 laps

1440 - 1453: Adjustments - Front and rear ride height

1453 - 1503: Run 3, 5 laps

1503 - 1510: Adjustments - Front wing

1510 - 1530: Run 4, 10 laps

Luiz Razia (FP1) / Jarno Trulli (FP2) - Chassis: T128-03 FP1 (RAZ)

1000 - 1002: Installation (1 lap)

1002 - 1023: System checks

1023 - 1040: Run 2, 8 laps

1040 - 1130: Session end due to suspension issue

FP2 (TRU)

1400 - 1415: Run 1, 8 laps

1415 - 1428: Adjustments - front wing, rear ride height, front ant-roll bar

1428 - 1445: Run 2, 9 laps

1445 - 1455: Adjustments - front wing, rear ride height, front ant-roll bar

1455 - 1505: Run 3, 5 laps

1505 - 1510: Adjustments - front wing

1510 - 1530: Run 4, 10 laps

Luiz Razia: "It was good to get back in the car and even though the suspension issue brought the session to an earlier end than we would have liked I could still feel that the car has taken a step forward since I last drove it in Barcelona. I was taking it steadily, aiming to bring the lap times down and give the team some useful feedback so it's a shame I couldn't complete the plan, but that's racing."

Heikki Kovalainen (car 20): "It's good to get through the whole day with no reliability issues and hopefully that sets us up well for the weekend ahead. The car had a good balance this morning but this afternoon the changes we made maybe didn't take us in the right direction so I wasn't quite as comfortable in FP2. I had a few issues with traffic on my performance run which meant I couldn't get everything out of it but having had a clear day we'll put in the work tonight as see where we are tomorrow."

Jarno Trulli (car 21): "Clearly it's good that I had a trouble free afternoon but I am struggling a bit with the balance to be honest. We'll work on that tonight with the data we've generated today and with another clear session tomorrow we should be able to pick up where we left off in Malaysia."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "That was a good Friday engine-wise. We were able to set up the engines according to the driver requests and we worked through a program that tested a number of maps and the feedback we have had is good. We have definitely taken another step on from Sepang and as the ambient conditions here are less severe than in Malaysia the engine is consequently under less stress so I think we should be able to continue the progress through qualifying and into the race and maximise our performance across the weekend."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That was a far more productive Friday than we have had in the two previous races this season and I think it is a measure of our increased competitiveness that we are actually a little disappointed with the overall pace. We ran Luiz Razia this morning and he did a good job for the team, despite having a suspension problem that brought his run to a premature end. With the race drivers we completed the full programme on each car but traffic interrupted both their runs on the soft tyres so we are a little disappointed that we were not able to show more pace that we know is in the cars. The tyres are working pretty well here - we have found our way around the warm up issues, so while today is satisfying in terms of reliability, there is definitely more to come tomorrow and we want to be pushing towards Q2."

Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer: "I think that was a pretty good day for the team. We put in the laps and have accumulated some good data on the tyres so I think we're in good shape for tomorrow and Sunday."