Weight of lightest ever Caterham Seven: < 400 kgs

Number of patents filed by GE in 2010: > 2,900

Global page views on CNN.com in May 2011: 1.6 billion

Weather

Sun

Min / max air temp: 29˚ / 30˚

Min / max track temperature: 40˚ / 40˚

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

1331: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out

Lap 5: Pitstop 1, new nose Lap

25: Pitstop 2

Finished 14th

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

1331: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out - start on option tyres

Lap 21: Pitstop 1

Lap 35: Pitstop 2

Finished 13th

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "I had a great start, passing Jarno and then seeing the HRT coming into T1 in a pretty hardcore style so I avoided that and was then up into a good position early on. I managed to hold that place for a good number of laps and found the tyre degradation pretty easy to manage. The pitstops were really good today - the calls to come in were made at the right times and the whole crew did a great job to get me out so quickly, so thanks to them and the whole team for a good end to the weekend."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-03: "For once I didn't have a great start but I managed to avoid the crash at the first corner and luckily Heikki and I were able to get through that and avoid damaging our cars. While I was racing Heikki, I think Massa got into trouble into the first chicane, so I had to go off track to avoid hitting him. When I rejoined the track he shut the door on me, so I went down the inside, kept flat out and managed to overtake him. Then, going into the first corner I had two faster cars behind me with KERS - they had just pressed the button and while going into the second corner Massa lost the car under braking and hit me which forced me into the car next to me, damaging the front end of the car and the front wing. It was really unlucky as I was basically in a sandwich and I was the only one that was damaged! The team did a great job to bring me in , change the nose and then rethink the strategy, switching me to one stop strategy pretty much straight away. From there my lap times were really good and I enjoyed the whole of the rest of the race. I'm really happy about the performance today and the pace was excellent all afternoon. In fact, throughout the whole weekend I have been very happy with the pace of the car overall and this morning's news about next year's contract has made this a fantastic home race for me - thanks to the whole team for that!"

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "From the engine perspective that was a pretty tough race but one that we are very pleased to have finished so well. Jarno's pace today was really good - he was easily able to pull away from Timo once he passed him and to have both cars finishing so closely together after the incident Jarno had is a very positive result. Monza is extremely testing for the engines as the drivers spend so long at full throttle, but we managed to get both cars home without any problems so that is a good afternoon for us and the whole team."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That was a great race for us. Both drivers managed to avoid the carnage at the start but then Jarno lost a bit of time early on after being hit by Massa. That incident meant we had to bring him in to change his front wing, putting him back a few places but we switched his strategy and put him onto a long stint on the soft tyres tyres before changing to the mediums. That change, and the fact he was pushing throughout the whole race, helped him get back in front of his direct opposition and he did well to finish 14th. Heikki was also strong all afternoon and was holding the places he had gained at the start as long as he possibly could - we are all delighted that he brought his car home in 13th without any issues at all as that was the primary goal for today. After a difficult Friday this performance was a great recovery from the team to show how we can bounce back from a difficult start to the weekend. It is been an extremely positive result which sets us up well for Singapore, so well done to everyone."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "It has been a great day for Team Lotus and, for me, about the best race I have been to so far! To come 13th and 14th at Monza is way above my expectations so I am very proud of both drivers and the whole team. Obviously the race had a number of incidents which helped our final grid positions, but there are two key points for us to take out of today - we were there at the end to take the advantage of the positions that were available and our pace over the race distance was strong enough to keep up with a number of the established teams. Both Heikki and Jarno did an absolutely fantastic job throughout the whole afternoon and they were helped by the pitstop crew who performed brilliantly, and the engineers who made the right calls at the right times. Well done to all. This has been a pivotal few days for our team and we will be making anumber of announcements over the next few weeks that will show just how well we have laid the foundations for the future of our team. But now for me it is back to London and Loftus Road!"

Amount of sports new programming broadcast each year on CNN: > 1,000 hours

Number of days a Caterham 7 spends on the production line: 11

Go to www.teamdellracing.com to see how Team Lotus has the power to

do more with Dell

Weather

Sun

Min / max air temperature: 27˚ / 31˚

Min / max track temperature: 30˚ / 43˚

Positions / fastest laps

FP3

TRU 19th, 1.27.328 (lap 18) / KOV 20th, 1.27.491 (lap 20)

QUALIFYING

Q1

TRU 19th, 1.26.647 (lap 10) / KOV 20th, 1.27.184 (lap 12)

Total laps

FP3

TRU: 19 / KOV: 21

QUALIFYING

Q1

TRU: 12 / KOV: 13

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-03

FP3

1100 - 1102: Installation, 1 lap

1102 - 1110: System checks

1110 - 1122: Run 2, 7 laps

1122 - 1135: Adjustments - front wing flap

1135 - 1143: Run 3, 4 laps

1143 - 1150: Adjustments - front wing flap 1150 - 1202: Run 4, 7 laps

Qualifying

Q1

1359 - 1409: Run 1, 6 laps

1409 - 1413: Refuel

1413 - 1422: Run 2, 6 laps

Finished 19th

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP3

1059 - 1102: Installation, 1 lap

1102 - 1110: System checks

1110 - 1121: Run 2, 7 laps

1121 - 1129: Adjustments - front torsion bar, front anti-roll bar

1129 - 1141: Run 3, 7 laps

1141 - 1147: Adjustments - front anti-roll bar

1147 - 1158: Run 4, 6 laps

Qualifying

Q1

1400 - 1410: Run 1, 6 laps

1410 - 1412: Refuel

1412 - 1423: Run 2, 7 laps

Finished 20th

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-03: "I'm really happy with the job the team has done today and I think I got the most I could out of the car, particularly on the second run. There's only really one line here in Monza - it's not a particularly technical circuit but you need to be extremely precise and with the power steering system we had in Hungary back on the car I'm able to feel my way around the whole lap, which gives me the chance to put in laps like I did to get into the 1.26s. The car has definitely improved since yesterday - we found the balance we were struggling for in FP1 and FP2 and I think that puts us in a good place for the race tomorrow."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: ""The car felt good today but I struggled a bit to get the ultimate lap time out of it this afternoon. I don't really know why so I'll have a look at the data with the engineers and see where we could find some time, but the good thing is that we have definitely improved since yesterday which shows we keep on going in a positive direction all the time. Even after that I think we didn't qualify too badly and are in a reasonable position to fight tomorrow. Jarno is strong here and it will be a good battle with him tomorrow. The important thing is to keep the gap to the guys behind us and look ahead, not behind. I think we'll be ok."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "It has been quite a good day for us. Overnight we quite substantially changed the setups on the cars which gave us a fair amount of work to do in FP3, but it looks like that has paid off as the feedback from both drivers has been much more positive today. Jarno was particularly strong on his home track in qualifying, and I think he and Heikki will both be in a good position to fight tomorrow."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "After yesterday I think that was a pretty good qualifying session. We finally found the performance we knew was in the car and with both drivers happy with the balance we can be pleased with the job we did overnight and this morning. Jarno in particular was much more happy with his car and he could have found a few more tenths on his quickest lap but for the traffic that held him up in the final sector. Heikki was not quite as happy with the balance of his car, but he also put in a good performance, as did the whole team, to get the best out of what we have today and now we look forward to a strong race and a solid two car finish tomorrow."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "Firstly I am thrilled to be back on track after a few races away - nothing beats F1 and I am very pleased with the performance today. Last night I was a little nervous after a slightly disappointing Friday, but we had a good conversation with the whole team and I think we did very well today. This is the type of track where KERS plays an important role and without that this year we are always going to struggle, but to have kept a respectable gap to some of the teams ahead is quite pleasing. I noticed some of what Eddie Jordan said on the BBC this afternoon and I take that sort of comment as a positive - he is not alone in wanting to see us keep moving further up but Rome was not built in a day and our plan has always been worked out over the long-term. We cannot rush this and we always knew that securing tenth place in the first two seasons would give us the platform to build for a secure future, so we are on target to achieve that. Over the next few weeks we will unveil some more of the plans for next season and beyond, and having seen the development plan for next year's car I am confident the foundations we have laid will help us reach where we want to be. Hopefully in years to come people with the experience of Eddie will be proud of what we have achieved, and we will take his comments as a positive force for us to keep pushing on."

Maximum width of a 2011 F1 car: 1800mm

Number of G20 governments using Dell equipment: All 20

Amount of the world's power created by GE power generation equipment:25% 

Weather

Sun

Min / max air temperature: 21° / 31°

Min / max track temperature: 22° / 41°

Fastest laps / positions    

FP1KOV 19th, 1.29.539 (lap 8) / CHA 20th, 1.30.148 (lap 18)

FP2TRU 18th 1.28.559 (lap 22) / KOV 19th, 1.28.605 (lap 25)     

Total laps    

FP1KOV: 10 / CHA: 19

FP2TRU: 32 / KOV: 32                 

Runplan

FP1: Karun Chandhok

FP2: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-03 

FP1: Karun Chandhok

0959 - 1002: Installation, 1 lap

1002 - 1027: System checks, front wing flap & brake blanking adjusted

1027 - 1029: Run 2, 1 lap

1029 - 1038: System checks, front wing flap, brake balance, brake blanking

1038 - 1050: Run 3, 7 laps

1050 - 1107: Adjustments - brake blanking

1107 - 1124: Run 4, 10 laps

FP2: Jarno Trulli

1400 - 1409: Run 1, 5 laps

1409 - 1424: Adjustments - front wing flap / rear ride height

1424 - 1439: Run 2, 8 laps

1439 - 1448: Adjustments - front wing flap, front torsion bar

1448 - 1456: Run 3, 4 laps

1456 - 1501: Adjustments - front wing flap

1501 - 1511: Run 4, 6 laps

1511 - 1517: Adjustments - rear wing / long run fuel

1517 - 1533: Run 5, 9 laps

Runplan

Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04   

FP1

0959 - 1002: Installation, 1 lap

1002 - 1031 5601: System checks, front wing, brake balance

1031 - 1045: Run 2, 8 laps

1045 - 1055: Adjustments: rear wing

1055 - 1056: Run 3, 1 lap: gearbox issue ends session

FP2

1400 - 1412: Run 1, 8 laps

1412 - 1428: Adjustments - front wing, rear ride height

1428 - 1446: Run 2, 11 laps

1446 - 1452: Adjustments - front wing flap

1452 - 1504: Run 3, 7 laps

1504 - 1515: Adjustments - front wing flap / long run fuel

1515 - 1526: Run 4, 6 laps

Karun Chandhok, Chassis T128-03 (FP1): "I'm pretty pleased with the performance this morning. The car felt OK from the first laps and it was good to get some more time under my belt in the cockpit. Friday mornings are always pretty limited running, particularly when the track's got that light covering of dust on it, but today I was focusing on some aero evaluation and we got through that program so I think I did ok today."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "That wasn't too bad but we can definitely improve. This morning's session was brought to an early end with a sensor issue on the gearbox and I was given the instruction to pull over when the engine temperatures started rising.This afternoon we worked on both sets of tyres and I think the softs are ok but we weren't really able to get the best out the mediums which gave us some areas to work on tonight on improving overall grip."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-03: "That was a trouble free Friday afternoon for me but honestly I'm not all that happy with the balance of the car at the moment. There's quite a lot of understeer on turn-in and through the exit of the corners and we need to work on dialling that out to find more speed. There's definitely more to come and we've shown all season we can take good steps forward from Friday to Saturday, so I think we'll be ok tomorrow."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "This morning we worked with Karun on engine mapping and he did a good job for us collecting a lot of data we can use on both race cars this weekend.The chassis he was in, which reverted to Jarno for the afternoon session, completed decent mileage throughout both sessions, but this afternoon we struggled a bit with Jarno in the car, and we need to spend some time this evening to make sure we can progress for FP3 and qualifying."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That was a bit of a difficult Friday for us.  It started well this morning with Karun doing a good job running through an aero evaluation program and it was good for him to have a full session in the dry. For the race drivers, the main problem today was getting heat into the harder tyres and I think we may find that improves with increasing the downforce levels tomorrow. Both Jarno and Heikki were reporting that they could not find enough grip and as that is linked to both tyre performance and the downforce package the goal is to solve that for tomorrow and unlock the speed we know is in the car for qualifying."

Riad Asmat, Group CEO: "That was not one of our best Fridays. Despite completing a pretty decent number of laps we struggled to find grip on both cars all day so the main challenge now is for the engineers to work through the data that we have accumulated and improve our speed tomorrow. We know we can increase performance levels in all areas for FP3, qualifying and the race, and that is the focus now for the remaining sessions."

2010 Timing

Qualifying

P1  ALO 1.21.962 Q3

P2  BUT 1.22.084 Q3

P3  MAS 1.22.293 Q3

TL best  P18 TRU 1.25.540 Q1

Race

P1  ALO 1.24.139 L52

P2  VET 1.24.598 L46

P3  MAS 1.24.575 L51

TL best  P18 KOV 1.27.822 L50

Quick description

Long and low downforce circuit with the highest top speed of the season

Additional kerbs behind the old kerbs in both chicanes in 2009 (different ride requirements)

It is possible to overtake with good top speed

Fuel effect below average

High brake energy but high cooling rate so not big issue for brake wear in general

Braking stability is important

Radio and DST coverage could be a problem around T4 to T7

Typical balance issue

Braking stability is usually the main issue

Gears ratio (1st gear/others)

1st gear used in T1

Longer 3rd gear usually needed for T6 / T7

Circuit particularity

Bumpiness: Medium

Overtaking chance   T1

Kerbs: Medium

RH setting particularity: None

Sensitivities

Engine severity: Very high

GBX severity: Low

Lat/Long grip: Medium

Aero eff ratio: Very high

Track and base setup

Track grip evo during WE: High

Aero settings: Very low

Brake wear severity: Medium

Brake cooling necessity: Medium / low

Team Lotus Partners

Pirelli tyre compounds in Italy: Medium / Soft

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "Monza is another different challenge for us and it'll be good going there on the back of such a strong weekend in Spa. It has different downforce requirements to most of the rest of the tracks we race on, but we'll go there with the same sort of aggressive strategy we used well in Spa to put us into Q2.

"For Monza you'll hear a lot of the drivers talking about how one of the keys to a quick lap is how well you use the kerbs. Getting over them as efficiently as possible helps minimise the overall length of the lap and it might only be fractions of seconds, but shortcutting as much as you can, obviously within the rules and as much as the car can take, saves time and helps you maintain momentum onto the straights. To the viewer on TV and even at the track the kerbs don't look all that hardcore, but when you're in the car you hit them pretty hard and you need to be ready for it to get out of shape and even start to snap away from you. We'll work on Friday on getting the setup right to give us maximum speed on the straights and enough compliance in the suspension to really be able to attack under braking and into each corner.  I'm looking forward to it - it's a classic track and the Tifosi are among the most passionate fans anywhere, so it's a good place to end the European leg of the season."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "Monza's a funny one for me.

As an Italian everyone expects it to be the most special race of the season for me but really it's not. I can't really afford to treat it differently to any other race as I want to make sure I can focus on the job every day I'm on track, and even though there's a lot of fans in the stands, and friends and family around the paddock, I always try and treat it like any other race.  Obviously the good thing for me is that it's close to my home, so I do get to catch up with lots of people who I don't normally have time to see, but ever since I started racing I was nearly always abroad, so while it's obviously my home race it's not one I approach differently to any others.

"From a technical perspective Monza's not the most technical track, but it's still critical to have the car balanced so you can attack the kerbs and be really confident under braking, particularly into the first chicane as that's the most obvious overtaking opportunity.

The car felt really good in Spa, and I know we have the revised power steering system I used in Hungary back for this race, so I think we'll be ok. We had very strong race pace in Belgium, and if we can carry on like that in Italy we'll be just fine."

David Mart, Renault Sport F1 Engine Engineer: "Italy is the toughest circuit of the year for engines due to the high percentage of wide open throttle time per lap. 75% of the 5.793km lap is spent at full throttle and near maximum revs - it's comparable to high speed oval racing in the States. As such we need to create engine maps that allow the engine to work well at the top of the revs, from 16,000rpm to 18,000rpm, with a smooth power delivery which peaks to a maximum obtainable from a 2.4 litre naturally-aspirated V8 engine, to ensure that the car doesn't get out of shape and can go as quickly as possible."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "I am delighted to be back on track after having had to miss a couple of races due to what has probably been the busiest summer of my working career! Despite not being on track I have been keeping up with everything that has been going on, both at the factory and the races, and it was very pleasing to see the team have such a strong weekend in Spa after a disappointing couple of races before the break. The factory staff were working right up until Friday night of the Belgian race weekend on reliability fixes, to ensure we did not see a repeat of the problems we had in Hungary and Germany, so the fact both cars finished well, particularly after being involved in the collisions at the first corner, is testament to a job very well done by the factory team.

"Monza gives us another chance to keep edging towards the teams ahead before we go back to the Far East and what is really our third home race in Singapore. This weekend we are not going to be challenging the teams ahead quite yet in outright pace, but clever use of strategy and very strong drives from both Heikki and Jarno gives us a chance to hold our own in the race, so the target for Monza has to be to maintain the reliability record established in Spa and look for another two car finish at the chequered flag, as high as we can reasonably hope. That is a realistic target, and that is the approach we bring to everything related to our team. The plans for the future development of the team, and the group it sits in, are taking shape eactly as we want them to and we are setting ourselves reasonable goals that can be achieved through hard work, innovation and a little bit of luck."

Track guide: The Italian Grand Prix in Monza brings to a close the European Formula 1 season at another historic venue, made famous by countless heroes of previous championships and with the essence of Italian motor racing embedded into the tarmac. The circuit's current guise puts an emphasis on aerodynamic performance and with the two DRS zones active during the race weekend, fans can expect to see a huge amount of overtaking throughout every session. The temperatures are expected to be very hot, with Italy having been subjected to an intense heatwave over the last few weeks, so how the teams manage the increased level of tyre degradation will definitely play a major role in how they fare in qualifying and the race itself.

Team Lotus Information

Weight of lightest ever Caterham Seven: < 400 kgs   

Number of patents filed by GE in 2010: > 2,900   

Global page views on CNN.com in May 2011: 1.6 billion                

Weather 

Overcast

Min / max air temp: 17˚ / 19˚

Max track temperature: 21˚  / 27˚

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01   

1332: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out - start on option tyres

Lap 14: Pitstop 1, option tyres

Lap 32: Pitstop 2, prime tyres

Finished 14th

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04   

1330: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out - start on option tyres

Lap 1: Pitstop 1, option tyres, new nose

Lap 14: Pitstop 2, option tyres

Lap 33: Pitstop 3, prime tyres

Finished 15th

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "For me and the whole team that was a really good race. I had a great start, passing a few other cars away from the line but then the accident in T1 meant both Heikki and I suffered damage - him to his nosecone, me to the floor and I had to run the whole race with that damage, so to finish 14th after that is just fantastic. Apart from the start I enjoyed the whole race - I passed a number of cars and when the safety car came out I was able to close the gap to the cars ahead. That gave me the chance to fight with the Renault and I passed him and was then able to keep pace with the other guys ahead. One of the best points of the race was the first stop I made - I came in just behind one of the HRTs and the pitcrew did a brilliant job to get me out fast enough to pass him in the pitlane, so I want to thank them and the whole team for a really solid weekend. Racing like this, with no problems and with a car I can fight with all afternoon is very satisfying, so now I can't wait to get back in when we get to Italy and keep up the momentum we've built up here."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "That was a good race for us, obviously apart from the start! I got off the line well but it all tightened up at the first corner and I touched Jarno after someone else had hit me - I was caught in a bit of a sandwich but after I'd pitted and had a new nose it all went pretty well from there. The soft tyres weren't working quite as well as the mediums, but I was still able to push and the main thing is we had a two car finish in strong positions, so that's a good end to the weekend."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "We can be very pleased with the result today. Our race performance was good and we were able to show that the setups we had worked on in the practice sessions were right for today, giving us the chance to fight and manage the tyres well all afternoon. We enjoy races like this!"

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That is a very good result for the whole team today and goes down as one of our strongest performances since we came into the sport. We had a poor start where both cars were last after making contact in the first corner but we recovered very well, and to have finished in 14th and 15th after that is very pleasing. Both drivers were excellent today, but the pitcrew deserve special praise for having taken a massive step forward in their performance. All our stops were exactly what we needed so congratulations to them for a job very well done today."

Riad Asmat, Group CEO: "I want to thank the whole team for today's performance, and the jobs everyone has done all weekend. The main aim was to make sure both cars saw the chequered flag, and we wanted to be in the mix to take advantage of any opportunities that presented themselves and finish as high as we could reasonably expect. 14th and 15th means we achieved that, and everyone played their part in making sure we leave Spa on a high, so this goes down as a very good weekend."

Team Lotus Information 

Sum invested in 2010 by GE in intellectual content: $6 billion

Team Lotus Facebook fans: 111,798

Go to www.teamdellracing.com to see how Team Lotus has the power to do more with Dell                

Weather 

Mixed: Overcast, rain

Min / max air temperature: 14˚   / 19˚

Min / max track temperature: 15˚ / 21˚

Positions / fastest laps

FP3

KOV 12th, 2.13.036 (lap 13) / TRU 18th, 2.14.682 (lap 10)

QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV 16th, 2.06.780 (lap 8) / TRU 19th, 2.08.773 (lap 5)

Q2

KOV 17th, 2.08.354 (lap 6)

Total laps

FP3

KOV: 15 / TRU: 11

QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV: 9 / TRU: 8

Q2

KOV: 7

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01   

FP3

1103 - 1107: Installation, 1 lap (wet tyres)

1107 - 1129: System checks / heavy rain, front brake blanking adjusted

1129 - 1140: Run 2, 4 laps (wet tyres)

1140 - 1148: Adjustment - front brake blanking

1148 - 1203: Run 3, 6 laps (intermediate tyres)

Qualifying

Q1

1401 - 1414: Run 1, 6 laps (intermediate tyres)

1414 - 1416: Refuel, front wing flap adjusted

1416 - 1422: Run 2, 2 laps (intermediate tyres) Finished 19th

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04   

FP3

1103 - 1107: Installation, 1 lap (wet tyres)

1107 - 1129: System checks / heavy rain, front brake blanking adjusted

1129 - 1149: Run 2, 8 laps (wet tyres)

1149 - 1151: Change to intermediate tyres

1151 - 1206: Run 3, 6 laps (intermediate tyres)

Qualifying

Q1

1401 - 1414: Run 1, 6 laps (intermediate tyres)

1414 - 1416: Refuel

1416 - 1423: Run 2, 3 laps (intermediate tyres) Finished 16th

Q2

1427 - 1437: Run 1, 3 laps (intermediate tyres) / (red flag)

1437 - 1441: Refuel

1441 - 1450: Run 2, 4 laps (intermediate tyres) Finished 17th

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "I think we can be very pleased with the performance today. That last lap in Q1 was as much as I could get out of the car and to get back into Q2 is obviously a great result for the whole team. We had the right plan for the conditions, put it into action on track and it paid off. I don't think I could have got any more out of the package today, so finishing where we did goes down as objective achieved for today. It looks like it'll be a dry race tomorrow, and I think the key for us is to make sure both cars finish. If we can do that, be there to take advantage of anything that happens, and leave Spa having got into Q2 and had a solid race, this will go down as a good weekend for us."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "Another good day for the team and congratulations for Heikki for getting back into Q2. For me it was looking pretty good until traffic pretty much ruined my second run, but the car felt good as the track was drying up and we were definitely on the right strategy for the conditions so it's a shame we couldn't make the most of it, but when everyone's out like that trying to get times in you're always going to have some issues with traffic, and it's unlucky it hit my last run in Q1 today."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "From our perspective that goes down as a good day. Heikki drove very well in the conditions and to put his car into the second qualifying session was a good result for the whole team. It is a shame Jarno had traffic on his last run as he had a chance of getting into Q2 as well, but I think we achieved what we wanted to in both sessions so that is very satisfying."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That was an exciting qualifying session for us! Obviously it was great for Heikki to get into Q2 and it was particularly impressive as he was held up in the last corner in Q1 so had more time to come from that lap. I think Jarno would have got into Q2 as well but he was held up on his last run but despite that we can be very satisfied with the effort of the whole team and now we are looking forward to a strong race tomorrow."

Riad Asmat, Group CEO: "I am delighted with today's performance from right across the whole team. We had worked this morning on turning the cars around quickly in the garage to take advantage of whatever the weather threw at us in qualifying and it paid dividends with a good use of strategy, some great driving and very solid teamwork to put Heikki into Q2. Jarno was on course to join him as well but suffered from traffic, so with the good reliability we have had all weekend, a very good performance today, now we want to put together the perfect weekend for us and have a clean, problem free Sunday."

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Weather

Mixed: Overcast, rain, sun

Min / max air temperature: 21˚ / 23˚

Min / max track temperature: 21˚ / 24˚

Fastest laps / positions

FP1

TRU 13th, 2.08.233 (lap 12) / CHA 21st, 2.13.090 (lap 9)

FP2

TRU 18th 1.55.051 (lap 19) / KOV 20th, 1.56.202 (lap 12)

Total laps

FP1

TRU: 14 / CHA: 11

FP2

TRU: 20 / KOV: 15

Runplan

Drivers: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

FP1

0959 - 1002: Installation, 1 lap

1002 - 1005: System checks, front wing flap & brake blanking adjusted

1005 - 1011: Run 2, 1 lap

1011 - 1055: System checks, front wing flap, brake balance, brake blanking

1055 - 1112: Run 3, 7 laps

1112 - 1123: Adjustments - brake blanking

1123 - 1137: Run 4, 5 laps

FP2

1400 - 1434: Run 1, 14 laps

1434 - 1438: Adjustments - front wing flap / brake blanking, brake balance

1438 - 1451: Run 2, 6 laps

End of session

Runplan

FP1 - Karun Chandhok

FP2 - Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP1 - Karun Chandhok

0959 - 1005: Installation, 1 lap

1005 - 1101: System checks, front wing, brake balance

1101 - 1113: Run 2, 5 laps

1113 - 1121: Adjustments: front wing, brake blanking, brake balance

1121 - 1136: Run 3, 5 laps

FP2 - Heikki Kovalainen

1400 - 1411: Run 1, 4 laps

1411 - 1423: Adjustments - brake blanking, brake balance

1423 - 1435: Run 2, 5 laps

1435 - 1438: Adjustments - front wing flap

1438 - 1447: Run 3, 4 laps

1447 - 1449: Adjustments - front wing flap

1449 - 1454: Run 4, 2 laps

End of session

Karun Chandhok, Chassis T128-04 (FP1): "It's good to have been back in the car and despite the weather I enjoyed my time out there today. I had traffic on what would have been my quickest lap, but the chance to spend more time in the cockpit is always useful and as it was a bit of a stop-start session for everyone I pretty much did as much as I could today."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "It's always difficult in weather like this to get anything meaningful done, but we did get out on both the mediums and the softs and have a bit of data from those runs that'll be useful for Sunday. Tomorrow should be interesting - it looks like rain but we've always done pretty well in qualifying in the changeable conditions so let's see what we can do with strategy tomorrow afternoon - whatever happens I'm sure it'll be a good session for the fans!"

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "Despite it being a typical Spa day it was still pretty positive for me. We obviously knew what the conditions would be and had a plan to work around that, so we managed to get through most of what we wanted on the tyres, engine and setup and I think we're ok for quali when it looks like it'll be similar weather. One good point is that we were trouble-free in all the runs today so I think it's important we keep that up all weekend and give ourselves a chance to be in the mix if anything happens in qualifying or the race."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "As Spa is one of the most demanding tracks of the season on the engines we always have to achieve as much as we can here on Friday, whatever happens with the weather. The drivers spend a lot of the lap at full throttle, particularly on the run down to Eau Rouge and along the back straight, so we had a runplan for today that was based around the weather conditions that we had and we were able to complete most of the goals we had set ourselves for both sessions. Obviously we could not complete as much mileage as we would have liked, but we were able to work on the wet setup we may well have to use tomorrow, and the dry setup that hopefully we will be using on Sunday so despite the rain it has been a pretty good day for us."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "An interesting day with fairly typical weather conditions for this track. This morning Karun did a solid job for us and ran some aero checks early on, but then the rain brought an end to any meaningful running in his session. This afternoon, although Heikki wasn't able to complete his run on the softs we still managed to complete a run on the mediums for him and Jarno did get through some laps on the softs so at least we have banked some time on track on both compounds. Now we will have to see what the weather decides to do in qualifying and the goal for Saturday and Sunday is the same as it has been all season - see if we can push the cars directly ahead and make sure we have a problem free race."

Riad Asmat, Group CEO: "It is good to be back racing and to see that the whole team has come back from the break raring to go. There is a good spirit in the garage and everybody is determined to make sure we work as hard as we can to consolidate tenth place and take whatever opportunities present themselves, particularly on a track like Spa where the weather conditions may mean we can use strategy and a bit of luck to take the fight to the cars ahead."

Qualifying

P1 WEB 1.45.778 Q3

P2 HAM 1.45.863 Q3

P3 ALO 1.46.100 Q3

TL best P16 KOV 1.50.980 Q2

Race

P1 HAM 1.49.069 L32

P2 VET 1.49.395 L32

P3 MAS 1.49.807 L29 T

TL best P16 KOV 1.55.797 L23

Quick description

Medium-low downforce track

Easy on brakes and cooling

Minimum RH is determined by T3

Longest circuit of the season

7th gear setting influenced by wind on the main straight

Tend to run on the limiter in 7th gear to allow higher revs in Eau Rouge

Top speed can be reached towards T5 or T18 depending on wind direction

Top speed is important for good lap time in S1/S3 and for overtaking

S2 is a downforce dominant sector

No IN lap after the chequered flag

Typical balance issue

Braking and high speed stability are the main issues

Gears ratio (1st gear/others)

1st gear not used on track

7th gear needs particular attention

Circuit particularity

Bumpiness: Medium

Overtaking chance: Low (possibly T18)

Kerbs: Low

Lat/Long grip: Lateral

Sensitivities

Engine severity: Very high

GBX severity: Lowest

RH setting particularity: High FRH for T3

Aero eff ratio: Very high

Track and base setup

Track grip evo during WE: High

Aero settings: Medium / low

Brake wear severity: Low

Brake cooling necessity: Low

Team Lotus Partners

Pirelli tyre compounds in Belgium: Medium (Prime) / Soft (Option)

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "After a really good break in Finland it'll be good to get back to work. I'm feeling better than ever and it's always exciting heading to Spa. Eau Rouge is, of course, the corner everyone talks about and while it is still flat-out it's actually not that hard for us now, but it's still a big thrill. Any corner you take at 300km is pretty quick so you hang on the wheel pretty hard so that you don't get any snap out of the corner, build up a good speed down then you feel all that compression as the car bottoms out through the corner and then you're up the hill. It's still very exciting!

"It's been said so many times before but Spa is what a racetrack should be - hardcore corners, massive speed, overtaking opportunities and passionate fans, and, being Spa, anything can happen with the weather. Actually, it's not just Spa this year - we've had rain following us all season so in Spa maybe we'll have a hot and sunny weekend for once! I doubt it… it's almost certain it will rain somewhere on the circuit at some point over the weekend and that could well be an opportunity for our team. We just have to keep pushing and make sure we're in the hunt if there's an opportunity to be grabbed, work hard all weekend and keep taking little steps forward."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "Since Hungary I've been able to spend the last couple of weeks with my family in Miami - I've had a good rest and after we took such a step forward for me in Hungary I can't wait to get back on track. Honestly - it's hard to describe in simple terms just how much happier I was in the car from the very first laps in Budapest but it really was like night and day. For the first time all season I could work on the setup from a baseline I had confidence in, and that puts me and the team in a really good position for the rest of the season.

"It's also good that the next race is at Spa - it's pretty much the total opposite of Hungary, so it'll be another good chance to keep learning how to get the best out of the new system on a much quicker track with more high speed corners. Enough's been said over the years about what a great circuit Spa is, and for me it's the same as everyone else - it has some unique challenges and it brings out the best in the whole team - the drivers love the track, the engineers have to work hard to set the cars up right for the whole lap and the mechanics have to be on it all weekend to deal with the changing weather conditions, so while everyone talks about it being a drivers track, for me it's really a teams track."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "The whole team has had a good break and now they are all back and ready to get back to work in Belgium. We will do our best in Spa to keep taking measured steps forward and we need to make sure we have put the reliability issues that have affected some of our recent performances behind us.

"Off track, while the team took a deserved rest the last couple of weeks have been as busy as ever for me. We announced this week that we have taken a significant stake in QPR and while that is another new challenge it also opens up some very exciting opportunities for all the businesses I am involved with. One of the most interesting areas we will be looking at straight away is what we can learn in Team Lotus about the interaction between QPR and its fans - across the whole football industry there is a much more integrated day to day relationship with clubs' supporter bases than F1 and its teams have with their fans and I think that we can learn a huge amount very quickly about how we can be even more accessible to our fans than we Team Lotus has been since day one.

"While QPR has obviously been a focus for the last few months we are also progressing exactly as planned with the wider Team Lotus and Caterham Cars group. We have already made a number of very big announcements this year, about our racing, road car and football activities, let alone AirAsia and Tune Group, and there is more to come over the next few months that will keep us moving forward in exactly the right direction."

Track guide: Spa is one of the classic Grand Prix venues, scene of some of the most exciting races in Formula 1 history and still a real test for the drivers and the cars. Eau Rouge, Blanchimont, Pouhon - just some of the corners that would figure highly in any fantasy F1 track layout and when those corners are combined with the unpredictable weather that can see one half of the track wet, the other dry, the end result is consistently great racing. The Spa Francorchamps circuit is set amongst the hills and forests of the Ardennes and is by far the longest lap of the season at just over 7 km, with the race being run over a total of 44 laps through the dips and dives of what is, for many of the drivers, the greatest circuit on earth.

The layout of the Spa circuit has always promoted overtaking, and the introduction of DRS in 2011 will inevitably see more moves being made in the race as the drivers slip-stream each other through the long straights and into the tight corners. The track is very easy on brakes and the cars are run in medium-low downforce, not as low as Monza, but, unless a gamble is being made on the weather, in low downforce configuration. The weather plays a critical role throughout the race weekend, almost more than anywhere else on the calendar and the changing conditions puts the onus on the engineers and drivers to make the right calls at the right time all weekend. The length of the lap and the possibility of extreme weather can mean that if the rain starts falling and the driver has just gone past the pit entry that could be the end of his race…. Added to that is T1 - a super tight right-hand hairpin with a very wide exit as the first corner of the race which usually sees some sort of mayhem as the cars come barrelling in from the startline, jockeying for position for the run down to T3, Eau Rouge.

Arguably the most famous corner in F1, Eau Rouge is now a turn the drivers say is less of a challenge than it was when the cars had less downforce, but that does not diminish its importance. For the engineers the corner presents a unique problem - the car has to be set up to deal with the huge compression it is put under at high speed through the bottom of the corner, but without compromising the overall balance by running too stiff or too high in static ride height which would penalise the rest of the laptime. Throughout the race, and particularly at the start, the sight of the cars screaming down from T2 into Eau Rouge, twitching as they go through the corner and then the invisible hand of downforce squeezing them into the track as they come through T4 and onto the Kemmel Straight is what is, for many fans, the essence of F1.

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Weather

Mixed - light rain / overcast

Min / max air temp: 16˚ / 18˚

Min / max track temp: 18˚ / 20˚

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

1331: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out - start on intermediate tyres

Lap 14: Pitstop 1, option tyres

Lap 19: retirement, oil leak

DNF

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

1331: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out - start on intermediate tyres

Lap 12: Pitstop 1, option tyres

Lap 24: Pitstop 2, option tyres

Lap 44: Pitstop 3, prime tyres

Lap 48: Pitstop 4, intermediate tyres

Lap 54: Pitstop 5, option tyres

Lap 56: Retirement due to water leak

DNF

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "A weekend of real ups and downs for me. I struggled to find a decent balance in the practice sessions but then it all came good in quali where I put in a really good lap after finally getting comfortable with the setup. I started the race well and was keeping pace with Maldonado, Sutil, Perez and the guys around me, and right through the early stops I was able to push them, and keep pulling away from the guys behind. We came in for inters when the rain really started again about two thirds of the way through the race, then back in pretty shortly afterwards for options again, but then I was given the instruction to shut the engine off due to a water leak. Having seen how close we were in race pace to the midfield I'm not disappointed - it's just another step in the growth of the team and we'll pick up where we left off in Belgium in a few weeks time."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "My run of bad luck in Hungary seems to have struck again! The car has been great all weekend and even though I didn't have the best start I was really enjoying myself out there. I got past Timo pretty early on and then had a good first stop but it looks like a water leak brought my race to an early end. Despite that, the steps forward we've taken here have been really positive, so after the break I'm sure we'll be back fighting again at Spa."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "That was a bit of a hard race for us. Heikki had a good start and was right in the mix but reliability issues brought both his race and Jarno's to an end. We obviously wanted to complete the full race distance so now we need to make sure that we do not see this sort of problem again."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A disappointing end to a strong race. Jarno stopped with a water leak and it looks like the same problem also ended Heikki's race later on, but we need to get the cars back and take a closer look before we can be sure what the problems were. Until they stopped both Jarno and Heikki were having strong races, particularly Heikki in the middle stint when he was keeping a lot of cars behind him. So, overall it is disappointing to end like this, but we have definitely taken a step forward here so now we can go into the well deserved mid-season break which the whole team, here at the track and back at the factory, definitely deserve, and come back refreshed and ready for an even better second half of the season when we return in Spa."

Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer: "What a shame our weekend ended like that. Heikki had driven a fantastic race and had been fighting right up until the end with the guys ahead - his pace was better than we have seen all season so it is obviously very disappointing that through no fault of his own he could not bring the car home. Jarno's race was also cut short which, after such a strong weekend for him, compounds the disappointment, but sometimes these things happen and we just have to make sure we learn from it, build on the positives and keep on pushing forwards."

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Weather

Sunshine

Min / max air temperature: 21˚ / 22

Min / max track temperature: 27˚ / 27˚

Positions / fastest laps

FP3

TRU 19th, 1.25.141 (lap 14) / KOV 20th, 1.25.501 (lap 18) QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV 19th, 1.24.362 (lap 7) / TRU 20th, 1.24.534 (lap 6)

Total laps

FP3

TRU: 20 / KOV: 20

QUALIFYING

Q1

TRU: 7 / KOV: 8

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

FP3 - prime tyres unless indicated

1100 - 1101: Installation, 1 lap

1101 - 1108: System checks

1108 - 1121: Run 2, 6 laps

1121 - 1126: Adjustment - rear brake blanking

1126 - 1136: Run 3, 5 laps

1136 - 1146: Adjustment - front wing flap

1146 - 1153: Run 4, 5 laps (option tyres)

1153 - 1157: Adjustment - refuel

1157 - 1201: Run 5, 3 laps (option tyres)

Qualifying

Q1 (adjusted front wing flap and ride height)

1401 - 1412: Run 1, 4 laps

1412 - 1417: Refuel, front wing flap adjusted

1417 - 1422: Run 2, 3 laps

Finished 20th

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP3 - prime tyres unless indicated

1100 - 1101: Installation, 1 lap

1101 - 1108: System checks, front wing flap adjusted

1108 - 1123: Run 2, 8 laps

1123 - 1132: Adjustment - rear brake blanking

1132 - 1144: Run 3, 7 laps

1144 - 1150: Adjustment - front wing flap angle 1150 - 1158: Run 4, 4 laps (option tyres)

Qualifying

Q1

1402 - 1412: Run 1, 5 laps

1412 - 1416: Refuel

1416 - 1421: Run 2, 3 laps

Finished 19th

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "After a bit of a tough weekend so far I'm really pleased with how quali finished up. I've not been able to find a balance I'm happy with all weekend and we made a couple of changes for qualifying that finally took us in the right direction. On the first run I couldn't get a clean lap together, but I was quietly optimistic we could hook it all up on the second run and that's how it ended up. I had to work pretty hard to get it all right and it's very pleasing to see it come good in the last minutes of Q1. The updates we've brought here are working very well for us and it looks like we've made a gain relative to the guys ahead, and with Jarno clearly much more competitive here the mood is really good across the whole team."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "This has been a very good day, even though in qualifying I didn't manage to get everything I could out of the car. On the first run we went with the prime and the car was oversteering a little. On the second run we went onto the super softs and found more understeer than I'd had all weekend so I wasn't really able to find the pace I'd had yesterday and this morning. Despite that I am really pleased with how this weekend's gone. The new power steering system has transformed the car for me and I'm so much happier now - it's really like night and day, and I can't wait to get back in tomorrow and see what we can do in the race. The difference between the two tyre choices means strategy will come into play in a big way, so let's see what we can do."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "We can all be pleased with the performance today. From the engine side we have been working on giving the drivers the right engine maps for this track, focusing on driveability which is key to maximising on this type of twisty track and I think both drivers extracted as much as they could from the complete package today. Our race pace looks pretty good for tomorrow as well so I think we are in a good position all round."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That was a pretty good qualifying for the team. We only ran one set of options on both cars in Q1 to save them for the race which will put us in good a position for the race tomorrow with the degradation levels we are going to see. Both drivers did a good job today. Jarno has been much happier with the car all weekend but couldn't quite translate that into his qualifying runs. He made a couple of small mistakes on his quickest lap which cost him a bit but it is good to see how well he has responded to the updates we have brought. Heikki has been less happy with the balance this weekend but he did an excellent job to get the most out of the car, so well done to him and the whole team."

Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer: "Firstly I want to say how pleased we all are with jarno's performance this weekend, in and out of the car. He has responded exactly as we would have hoped to the updates introduced here and has shown exactly why he is rightly considered one of the fastest drivers out there. On the qualifying session itself, I think we have to be reasonably pleased with how that went. Heikki put in a great final lap to edge just ahead of Jarno, and to finish less than three tenths from Buemi and about five tenths from Maldonado suggests that the changes we have made here have paid dividends. Both drivers have said they probably could not have found much more from the cars, but after very solid performances in all three practice sessions, and with good pace in the long runs yesterday, I think we are in good shape for tomorrow's race."

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Weather

Overcast / sun

Min / max air temperature: 19° / 23°

Min / max track temperature: 20° / 26°

Fastest laps / positions

FP1

KOV 19th, 1.26.878 (lap 8) / TRU 20th, 1.27.352 (lap 9)

FP2

TRU 19th 1.24.994 (lap 20) / KOV 20th, 1.25.447 (lap 21)

Total laps

FP1

KOV: 26 / TRU: 21

FP2

KOV: 39 / TRU: 38

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

FP1 - all runs on prime tyres

1000 - 1004: Installation, 2 laps

1004 - 1028: System checks

1028 - 1031: Run 2, 2 laps, aero parts test

1031 - 1046: System checks, brake blanking adjusted

1046 - 1058: Run 3, 7 laps

1058 - 1103: Adjustments - brake blanking

1103 - 1113: Run 4, 6 laps

1113 - 1123: Adjustments - fornt wing flap

1123 - 1130: Run 5, 4 laps

FP2

1400 - 1414 Run 1, 9 laps

1414 - 1427: Adjustments - front wing flap / brake blanking front and rear

1427 - 1439: Run 2, 7 laps

1439 - 1450: Adjustments - front wing flap 1450 - 1459: Run 3, 5 laps

1459 - 1502: Adjustments - front wing flap

1502 - 1532: Run 4, 17 laps

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP1 - all runs on prime tyres

1000 - 1004: Installation, 2 laps

1004 - 1031: System checks

1031 - 1035: Run 2, 2 laps, aero parts test

1035 - 1045: System checks, brake blanking adjusted

1045 - 1101: Run 3, 10 laps

1101 - 1113: Adjustments - rear ride height, f/r brake blanking, front torsion bar

1113 - 1132: Run 4, 12 laps

FP2

1400 - 1410: Run 1, 6 laps

1410 - 1419: Adjustments - rear brake blanking

1419 - 1438: Run 2, 12 laps

1438 - 1447 Adjustments - front wing flap, rear brake blanking, front anti-roll bar

1447 - 1454: Run 3, 4 laps

1454 - 1502: Adjustments - front wing flap, rear brake blanking

1502 - 1529: Run 4, 17 laps

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "I'm very happy today. I want to thank the whole team, everyone at the factory and in the race team because they have all been patient with me and have worked hard to give me the new power steering system and a car that I can really feel. As soon as I pulled out this morning it felt so much better than before so today I've been able to start rebuilding my confidence in the car, and working on all the little changes and improvements that help me to find a setup I can really work with. It's been a really positive day and for that my thanks go to everyone in the team."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "It feels like we have taken a step forward with the updates we've brought to the back end of the car but I still need to work on finding a balance I'm happy with. We tried a few different setup options today but I couldn't really find the best solution on either compounds, but we've completed a lot of mileage so I'm sure we'll find the right way forward tomorrow."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "A good Friday for the team. We have completed a very decent number of laps and worked through all the engine maps we will need to use here. Driveability is the key to maximising engine performance at this circuit and with the amount of data we have generated today on both cars I am sure we can find more time for qualification tomorrow for both Jarno and Heikki."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That was one of the best Fridays we have had this year. We have made some modifications to the diffuser and those changes have definitely worked, and with Jarno immediately telling us the new power steering system is working exactly as we wanted it to we have been able to push closer to the cars ahead than we have for a while. On Heikki's car we need to work on finding him a balance he is happy with and we will see how we have got on with that tomorrow, but overall this has been a very positive Friday."

Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer: "I am very pleased with today's work across the whole team. Back at the factory we have put in a lot of hours on the updates we have brought here, both on the diffuser and the new steering system, and it is clear from both drivers' laptimes that those efforts have closed the gap to the teams ahead more than we have seen for several races. Jarno in particular has been able to push today and he reported that as his confidence increases he will be able to find more time, so I think quali tomorrow could be very interesting."

2010 Qualify Result

P1 VET 1.18.773 Q3

P2 WEB 1.19.184 Q3

P3 ALO 1.19.987 Q3

TL best P20 KOV 1.24.120

2010 Race Result

P1 WEB 1.22.651 L46

P2 VET 1.23.195 L67

P3 MAS 1.22.362 L70

TL best P14 Kov 1.27.457 L64

Quick description

Track is laterally demanding but traction is also very important due to high number of medium-slow corners

Minimum corner speed is approximately 95kph

Traditionally, overtaking ha been very difficult Sector 2 is particularly important for lap time

Generally track is bumpy but no major issues, kerbs are only significant in T7

Wind creates a very dusty track making setup work difficult

In 2010, the increase of track grip was medium/high over the weekend .

Typical balance issue

Traction instability is usually the main issue

Gears ratio (1st gear/others)

1st gear could be used in T1, usually 1st gear is long to increase launch performance

Circuit particularity

Bumpiness: Medium / high

Overtaking chance: Low

Kerbs: High in T7

RH setting particularity: None

Sensitivities

Engine severity: Low

GBX severity: High

Lat/Long grip: Medium

Aero eff ratio: Low

Track and base setup

Track grip evo during WE High

Aero settings: Very high (max)

Brake wear severity: Medium / high

Brake cooling necessity: High

Team Lotus Partners

Pirelli tyre compounds in Hungary: Soft (Prime) / Super Soft (Option)

Jarno Trulli - car #21, chassis T128-01: "I'm obviously pleased to be back in the car and looking forward to getting on track in Hungary. The Hungarian Grand Prix is held on one of the typical modern Formula 1 circuits - it's pretty stop / start and has a lot of low speed corners with nothing really quick. It's very bumpy and hilly, and it's always very hot, so it's a big challenge for the cars and the drivers but I do enjoy the race there as it pushes the drivers physically, and getting a good lap requires concentration and focus.

"This year it's more difficult than any other season to predict how competitive we are going to be at any of the circuits we race at, mainly because there are so many new factors to take into account that comparisons with previous seasons are largely redundant. However, I think we can expect to be OK because we were competitive in Monaco, a circuit that's pretty similar to Hungary - relatively low speed with a need for good traction to push out of the slower corners and not so much reliance on aero performance.

"After the Hungarian race I'll go straight to my house in Miami and spend some time with my family out there. Whenever I'm in the US I make sure I get as much sunshine as possible and I like going out cycling whenever I can. There's a few other drivers who are usually around when I'm there, like Bruno Junqueira who I met through cycling and Juan Pablo [Montoya]. He's sometimes around to say hello to and while he's not into cycling I'm sure I'll see him once or twice. After that it'll be back for the next race in Spa but before then August is the three week break for everyone in the team. They all deserve it because they've worked so hard all year and it's a long season so I'm sure they'll all make the most of the time off and come back ready for the last third of the year."

Heikki Kovalainen - car #20, chassis T128-04: "After the cold weather in Germany it's back to the heat and dust of Hungary, scene of my first victory in F1. This year I think the Hungarian race will be similar to most other places for us but as it's less dependent on aero efficiency I think we are in with a shout of pushing the guys ahead a bit more than somewhere like Silverstone. We need to get the tyres working properly and if we're clever with the strategy I think Saturday afternoon could be interesting - we'll see.

Whatever happens I get a great reception when I'm in Hungary - there's always a lot of Finnish fans there and I've always left Hungary with good memories so I'm looking forward to getting back there again.

"Once the race is done I'll head home and have a couple of weeks catching up with family and friends in Finland, and keeping up my fitness levels. It might be a holiday but I never stop training so I'll do that without the distractions of any team or sponsor commitments and that's as important for me as it is for anyone in the team, to recharge the batteries for the next phase of the season."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "Hungary has always been one of the circuits where all the teams run maximum downforce. While it is obviously not a street circuit it requires a similar setup to Monaco and Singapore as the track's characteristics do not place a large emphasis on aero efficiency, instead rewarding enhanced downforce throughout the restrictions of the tight and twisty track. In the past teams have tried very innovative additions to the cars in an attempt to generate as much downforce as possible, sacrificing aero performance in favour of points of downforce, but now the rules are so tight there is no room to add the odd bits and pieces that used to be seen sprouting from the cars in Hungary and Monaco.

"With that in mind we may see the differences between the front of the grid and the back decrease slightly, and that could play into our hands. We showed at Silverstone that we can put our cars into Q2 using the right strategy and that may be the same in Hungary. We are definitely influencing the plans of the teams ahead as they cannot risk being behind us in Q1 using only the prime tyres, so hopefully we can do that again in Hungary and keep fighting the midfield pack on Saturday, and pushing on in the race on Sunday when our race pace comes into its own."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "Hungary is the last race before the whole team has a well-earned rest. Obviously I know just how hard everyone in our little team works but having helped out with pack-up in Germany on Sunday evening I had another insight into not only how physically tough it is to take down our whole trackside operation in a few hours, but also how quickly and efficiently everyone works to get it done, in some pretty grim conditions. The factory staff have also been flat out all year and their combined efforts helped us in Germany to cure the reliability issues that came back to haunt us in Silverstone. For Hungary the key is to keep up that record and focus on covering as many kilometres as possible over the three days on track, minimise mistakes, and grab whatever opportunities that come our way.

"Jarno will be back for that race and it will be his first chance to try the new power steering system we have developed and tested over the last couple of months. We are not expecting miracles from that - it is obviously a small part but, for Jarno, pretty vital as the aim is to give him the feel he needs from the car to extract every ounce of performance he can. It will be good to see him back in the pack and I am sure he will be pushing harder than ever alongside Heikki on a track that rewards the best drivers out there."

TRACK GUIDE: The Hungaroring has always been described as a track where overtaking is almost impossible. It is usually very dusty, especially when the wind picks up and even though the main straight was lengthened in 2003 that did not result in much more passing. However, it is possible this year will change that - DRS will obviously play its part and as Pirelli are bringing the Softs and the Super Softs tyre management will play a big role on a track with high evolution levels over the whole weekend. The section from T14 to T1 will now encourage overtaking - one slow turn leading to a straight that ends in another slow turn is theoretically the perfect layout for passing so there may be quite a bit of action at the end of the main straight - maybe the changes made in 2003 will finally pay dividends for the spectators.

For the drivers T1 is critical, but then T2, 3 and 4 are a bit stop start. From T4 - T11 it is important that the drivers make no mistakes as losing time there has a ripple effect on the whole lap - lose time there and it compromises the entire laptime. This puts the onus on the drivers and engineers to find a balance the driver is happy with through that section so they have the confidence to push and not lose time that cannot be made up later in the lap.

Balance is something the fans hear a lot about at every race, but what is a balanced car for one driver may not be balanced for another. Some drivers find their perfect balance in a car that has slight oversteer, others in a car that is totally neutral or one that pushes on in corners as understeer has been dialled in. The challenge for the engineers is to set up the cars for each driver to suit their own preferences, and that is the focus during the Friday practice sessions. In addition, Renault Sport F1 also work with the drivers to fine tune each of the engine maps that the drivers will have available to them during qualifying and the race, aiming to give the drivers a car from which they can extract maximum performance throughout the whole lap.

Assuming they have cleared T11 with no problems the next challenge is to get through the last few corners but the most important is achieving good traction out of T14 and onto the main straight. As this is likely to be the main overtaking opportunity of the whole lap this is also where time will be won and lost as the drivers cover moves being made on them from behind and position themselves as closely as possible to cars ahead to make their moves into T1.

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Pressure an F1 driver applies to the brake pedal: 2,000 psi

Weather

Mixed - overcast / light rain

Max air temperature: 13˚

Max track temperature: 16˚

Runplan

Driver: Karun Chandhok

Chassis: T128-01

1330: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps (1 through pitlane)

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out, start on option tyres

Lap 9: pitstop 1, option tyres (new nose)

Lap 31: pitstop 2, option tyres

Lap 55: pitstop 3, prime tyres

Finished: 20th

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

1333: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps (1 through pitlane)

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out - start on option tyres

Lap 28: pitstop 1, option tyres

Lap 52: pitstop 2, prime tyres

Finished: 16th

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "I think that was a pretty good race. For me everything was working well in the car but honestly it was a bit lonely out there! We're not quite with the guys ahead, and we're well clear of the teams behind, so I wanted to make sure I could push as hard as possible over the full race distance, not make any mistakes and get the car home in one piece. We are progressing in the right direction, and it will take time to be able to really fight with the guys in front, but we'll get there."

Karun Chandhok, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "That's a full race distance completed and an awful lot of learning under my belt. Honestly, that probably wasn't the race I wanted -I had a couple of high speed spins and I think I need more time to get used to the tyres. When they start to go off there's very little give compared to last year's rubber, but that's all part of the learning process and I'm glad I got the car home and did the best job I could."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "From the engine perspective I think we are pretty pleased. The feedback we have had from the drivers has been good - we wanted to maximise the driveability of the engine, especially in the wet conditions, and according to the data we amassed we managed to achieve that. Karun did a good job in very tough conditions - it is not easy to jump straight into the car and be able to extract maximum performance, but he adapted well to the strategies we gave him and has definitely taken a lot on board."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "Good to get both cars home over the line. Heikki had good pace, particularly on the options and he was able to keep up with the cars ahead throughout most of the race. Karun acquitted himself pretty well, despite having a couple of moments he got on with the job and has definitely learnt a lot from his time in the car here this weekend. The whole team has worked very hard to make sure we could have a two car finish, so well done to them and now we can move straight on to Hungary where the aim will be the same - progress little by little and keep moving forward."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "The main aim today was to bring two cars home and to make sure Karun could learn as much as possible over a full race distance. It is good that he finished the full 60 laps and showed some reasonable pace and I am very pleased with Heikki's speed on the options - we obviously have a lot of work to do but this is another platform to build on, so overall I am pretty happy."

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Go towww.teamdellracing.com to see how Team Lotus has the power to do more with Dell

Weather: Overcast

Min / max air temperature: 13˚ / 16˚

Min / max track temperature: 16˚ / 21˚

Positions / fastest laps

FP3

KOV 19th, 1.35.385 (lap 10) / CHD 23rd, 1.36.959 (lap 15) QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV 19th, 1.35.599 (lap 5) / CHD 21st, 1.36.422 (lap 10)

Total laps

FP3

KOV: 13 / CHD: 16

QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV: 9 / CHD: 11

Runplan

Driver: Karun Chandhok

Chassis: T128-01

FP3

1059 - 1102: Installation, 1 lap

1102 - 1109: System checks / Adjustment - brake balance

1109 - 1119: Run 2, 5 laps

1119 - 1134: Adjustment - brake balance, front brake blanking

1134 - 1145: Run 3, 6 laps

1145 - 1152: Adjustment - front wing flap angle

1152 - 1200: Run 4, 3 laps

Qualifying

Q1 (option tyres)

1400 - 1409: Run 1, 5 laps

1409 - 1412: Refuel

1412 - 14X: Run 2, 6 laps

Finished 21st

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP3

1100 - 1134: Run 1, 7 laps

1134 - 1148: System checks

1148 - 1159: Run 2, 6 laps (option tyres)

Qualifying

Q1 (option tyres)

1401 - 1412: Run 1, 6 laps

1412 - 1414: Refuel

1414 - 1420: Run 2, 3 laps

Finished 19th

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "I'm relatively pleased with the performance today but I think there was still more to come from the car. On the second run I was still struggling to get the front tyres working and I maybe pushed a bit more than I should so couldn't improve on my first run. That run had gone well and I was able to get a decent time in so all in all not too bad."

Karun Chandhok, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "I've got to say I'm pleased with how qualifying went today. Tony had said to me that if I could get within a second of Heikki he'd be proud, and I finished about 0.8 off him so that's a goal achieved. One of the challenges today has been finding out how much grip there is on the soft tyres on low fuel and that was always going to be a pretty steep learning curve in quali, but my times have been coming down all weekend so I'm getting there. As I've been saying, the last couple of days have been about learning the car, the tyres and how to get the best out of the DRS system, so to get as close as I reasonably could expect to my teammate is pretty good progress ."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "First I want to say that Karun has done a very good job today. That was his first qualifying session for quite a long time and he has had a lot to take on board this weekend, so to see the improvement he made from his first run to the second is impressive. From the overall engine perspective I think we can still find more time in the setup and while our performance was ok, there is the potential for more, so overall I am reasonably satisfied, but with a bit more work to do."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A reasonable qualifying session. Karun has improved steadily all weekend and if he had put his ideal lap together I am sure he would finished just behind Heikki. On his second set of tyres Heikki made a mistake but that did not affect his overall position as he had put in a good lap on his first run. With the rain that is forecast for tomorrow I think we can put in a strong performance and the aim is to pick up some positions and have both cars cross the finish line."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "I am pretty pleased with where we have finished today. As soon as I walked out of my hotel this morning and felt how cold it was I knew this would be a tricky day for us - our car really does not seem to like the cold so I think we have ended up about where we should be. I am also pleased with Karun's performance today, and in all the sessions so far. He has achieved exactly what we wanted him to and has maybe even ended up closer to Heikki than I thought he could after such limited time in the car, so the aim now is to repay the faith we have in him by putting in as strong a performance as he can in the race tomorrow.

"On the wider team front I have also been busy helping push forwards in 2012, in what will be a critical season for us. I have had a number of good meetings today about next year and beyond and am very happy with the way we are progressing, so now I am looking forward to the race tomorrow to hopefully see both Karun and Heikki fight to the end of the race in what could be quite tricky conditions."

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Weather Dry, overcast

Min / max air temperature: 13° / 17°

Min / max track temperature: 16° / 23°

Fastest laps / positions

FP1

KOV 17th, 1.36.392 (lap 9) / CHD 21st, 1.38.765 (lap 15)

FP2

KOV 18th, 1.35.753 (lap 23) / CHD 20th 1.37.248 (lap 18)

Total laps

FP1

KOV: 29 / CHD: 19

FP2

KOV: 42 / CHD: 33

Runplan

Driver: Karun Chandhok

Chassis: T128-01

FP1

1000 - 1002: Installation, 1 lap (aero data run)

1002 - 1009: System checks, wing mirror adjustment

1009 - 1012: Run 2, 1 lap (aero data run)

1012 - 1032: System checks, brake blanking adjusted

1032 - 1047: Run 3, 8 laps

1047 - 1106: Adjustments - front wing, brake balance

1106 - 1118: Run 4, 6 laps

1118 - 1125: Adjustment - front wing flap

1125 - 1132: Run 5, 3 laps

FP2

1400 - 1411: Run 1, 7 laps

1411 - 1420: Adjustments - brake balance

1420 - 1437: Run 2, 8 laps

1437 - 1445: Adjustments - front wing flap

1445 - 1455: Run 3, 5 laps

1455 - 1503: Adjustments - rear brake blanking

1504 - 1530: Run 4, 14 laps

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP1

0959 - 1002: Installation, 1 lap (aero data run)

1002 - 1012: System checks

1012 - 1014: Run 2, 1 lap (aero data run)

1014 - 1030: System checks, adjustments - brake blanking, throttle map

1030 - 1044: Run 3, 8 laps

1044 - 1049: Adjustments - rear brake blanking, front wing

1049 - 1104: Run 4, 8 laps

1104 - 1113: Adjustments - rear ride height, front torsion bar, front anti-roll bar

1113 - 1133: Run 5, 11 laps

FP2

1400 - 1414: Run 1, 8 laps

1414 - 1420: Adjustments - front wing flap

1420 - 1441: Run 2, 12 laps

1441 - 1448: Adjustments - option tyres

1448 - 1457: Run 3, 4 laps

1457 - 1501: Adjustments - front wing flap angle

1503 - 1530: Run 4, 17 laps

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "I'm pleased with today's performance - that was one of the good Fridays. We completed more laps than anyone else out there and the car has felt good all day. I can feel that we have made a decent improvement to the back of the car which helped us find a good balance pretty early on and it was working well on both tyre compounds, so this goes down as a good day's work."

Karun Chandhok, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "That was good day of learning. The main area I've been looking at is the brakes - we use a different material here to my previous team so I think that's why I've maybe ended up with quite a lot of square tyres today! I had a few moments under braking, and a couple of lock-ups, but that's what today was about - getting used to the tyres and the brakes and easing myself into a place where I can start to push. Over the day I improved my time from this morning by over 1.5 seconds, so I'm pleased with that, and now I'll work with the engineers to find more time and keep pushing forwards tomorrow."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "The main challenge here is to work on the driveability of the engines. We need to find a good top speed for the long straight and couple that with strong traction out of the slow and medium speed corners, and after having completed so many laps we have a very decent amount of data to work on to give the drivers the best package we can. We also wanted to make sure Karun could run as much as possible on different fuel loads and get used to the different engine maps, so the fact he completed so much mileage means this has been a good day all round."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A pretty useful first day where we were able to complete the programmes on both cars and make sure Karun completed a decent number of laps. He was obviously on a steep learning curve so we wanted to give him a chance to work on the tyres, both over a single lap and on long runs and he acquitted himself very well in both sessions. He and Heikki were struggling to warm up the front tyres, especially on the harder compound, but we can work on that and look forward to tomorrow."

Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer: "I am delighted with how today has gone, both in terms of the mileage we completed and the fact that both Karun and Heikki have performed so well. Karun has done exactly what we needed him to do - learn as much as possible, avoid any mistakes and ease himself into his race weekend. There is definitely more to come from him in pace and he can be pleased with how well he has grabbed the opportunity he has here in Germany. It is also good to see that the work that has been going on at the factory to resolve the reliability issues that befell us at the last race appears to have eradicated those problems, so now we have to make sure we have another strong Saturday and look forward to seeing both cars cross the line on Sunday."

2009 Qualify Result

P1 WEB 1.32.230 Q3

P2 BAR 1:32.357 Q3

P3 BUT 1:32.473 Q3

TL best N/A

2009 Race Result

P1 WEB 1:34.003 L37

P2 VET 1:34.089 L42

P3 MAS 1:34.458 L53

TL best N/A

Quick description

Like most tracks the circuit improves significantly over the weekend, however, lap time consistency in Friday practice is often poor

Predominantly low to medium speed corners

No real high speed corners, bar T5

Medium brake energy per lap time (Barcelona equivalent)

Relatively bumpy under heavy braking into T1 and T13

Air / track temperature could be either very high or very low

Weather changes very quickly

Typical balance issue: N/A

Gears ratio (1st gear/others): N/A

Circuit particularity

Bumpiness: Medium

Overtaking chance: Low

Kerbs: Medium

RH setting particularity: None

Sensitivities

Engine severity: Medium

GBX severity: Medium

Lat/Long grip: Longitudinal

Track and base setup

Track grip evo during WE: High

Aero settings: High

Brake wear severity: Medium

Brake cooling necessity: Medium

Team Lotus Partners

Pirelli tyre compounds in Germany: Medium (Prime) / Soft (Option)

Tony Fernandes - Team Principal: "I am looking forward to my first visit to the German Grand Prix, even more so now we have announced that Karun will be competing in his first full race weekend for Team Lotus. Ever since I first met Karun I have been impressed with his whole demeanour - he is talented, passionate, committed and he brings great energy to the whole team so I am delighted that we are giving him the chance to add even more value to us in the cockpit over a whole race weekend. One of the key goals of Team Lotus is to provide a stepladder to the top of world motorsport for talent from all over the world and we have been true to that philosophy since the first days of the team. For Formula 1 to continue to develop globally we need to keep creating new opportunities for talent from around the world to reach the top and Team Lotus will continue to do its best to support that. As a young Asian driver Karun faces even more obstacles to achieving his goals than his counterparts from the established motorsport homelands in the West, both from inside and outside F1, and I am very proud to be able to give him this chance on merit.

"I also want to take this chance to thank Jarno for helping make Karun's opportunity this weekend possible. He has been extremely accommodating in stepping to the side for this race and our commitment to him is unwavering. I am delighted to confirm that we are in the process of negotiating an extension to his contract with us and we are all looking forward to unveiling the details of that very soon. He is a key member of our team and I hope that we can give him a car as soon as possible that allows him to utilise his considerable talents to the full. For this weekend he will be on hand to lend his huge experience and support to Karun and I am sure Jarno, Heikki and Karun will do me, the whole team and all our fans very proud indeed."

Karun Chandhok - car 21, chassis T128-04: "Firstly I want to thank Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin for giving me the chance to race this weekend for Team Lotus. Ever since I first joined the team I have been looking forward to this opportunity and I am determined to do my best to repay their faith in me and help the team progress, this season and for many years to come. I amapproaching the weekend in a very realistic frame of mind. I will be doing my best to push and to make sure I learn as much as possible all weekend, take each session as it comes and work as closely as I can with the engineers and the whole team to do the best job I can. Whatever happens, I am very excited about lining up on the grid on Sunday and I know there will be millions of Indian fans, and Team Lotus fans around the world, who will be behind me and the whole team, so I will do the best I can to give them something to cheer for."

Jarno Trulli: "I'm looking forward to working with Karun this weekend and doing whatever I can to help him get the most out of his opportunity in Germany. It's great that the team is true to its word of helping develop young talent, particularly from parts of the world where it is even harder to break through into the top rung of motorsport, so I'll be there to give him guidance and assistance, in and out of the car."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "I am delighted that we are able to give Karun a full weekend in the car. He has been a very good addition to our driver line-up and now we are giving him a chance to take the next step in fulfilling his potential. Jarno will be stepping aside for him for this race and we will use Karun's feedback over the weekend as a comparison against Jarno's and Heikki's experiences this season with a number of aspects of the car, including the power steering system, to help us keep moving forward in 2011 and beyond. I am sure Karun will equip himself very well in this and in his performances in and out of the car all weekend. The whole team is looking forward to helping him get the most out of his time in the cockpit in Germany and it will be good to see him grab this chance and make the most of it."

"Looking at the track, the Nurburgring is one of the typical modern F1 circuits, among the first of the modern era to introduce big run-off areas and, much like Spa, a track that is subject to huge variations in the weather conditions. It can be blisteringly hot, especially in July, but you can also have local showers building up with almost no notice so the weather always plays a big part over the whole weekend. When the track was constructed they attempted to make it a small version of the legendary Nordschleife, and while it has elevation changes and a couple of quick corners it obviously can't replicate the fearsome challenge of the old track next door.

"Having said that I think it will be a good race. Overtaking has not been too easy there over the years but we have already seen this season that DRS and the behaviour of the tyres has meant overtaking is now possible at a number of tracks where traditionally passing was only really possible in the pits. Pirelli are bringing a medium and a soft tyre as the choices in Germany, so the performance differential between the two compounds won't be as pronounced as it was at Silverstone, but I think we will still have an interesting race right across the grid as degradation levels will need to be managed as the grip levels improve throughout the weekend."

Heikki Kovalainen - car 20, chassis T128-01: "Before the race weekend starts we're doing some filming with Renault Sport F1 around the original Nordschleife. I've driven there a couple of times and it really is one of the best driving experiences in the world. It obviously has a huge amount of history and is rightly considered one of the greatest single laps in motor racing. Driving a modern F1 car around there would obviously be incredible but I don't think it's particularly likely… it doesn't have the run-off areas that we need from a safety perspective and the track surface is pretty bumpy, so even though we're not in something as quick as my current car I'm really looking forward to the afternoon we have working there.

"From the old to the new. This is our first visit to the Nurburgring as Team Lotus as we were are Hockenheim last year, so I'm looking forward to taking the green and yellow to the new Nurburgring which, while it's not the same as where we will have been filming, it still has a good mix of elevation changes and high and low speed sections. Finding the right downforce level takes a bit of work as you don't want to compromise your speed on the straights, particularly from T11 to T13, but you also need to have as much grip as possible through the tight sections, especially into T1 and the chicane at T13 at the end of the lap where there you have the best chances of overtaking other cars. The weather is also usually a pretty big factor at the Nurburgring. It's almost exactly like Spa in the way it can be hot and sunny one minute and then heavy rain the next, and I personally love racing in those sorts of changeable conditions. Going from a dry track to a wet one on the same lap is the what racing drivers should have to deal with as much as possible, so, while it's not great for the spectators sitting in the stands, I hope we have exactly that sort of mixed up weather!"

Track Guide: Turn 1 is one of the critical points of the whole lap, particularly at the start. It goes slightly downhill into a very tight right-hander and as the cars come in there side-by-side it is easy for the drivers to miss their braking points and compromise their opening laps. However, it looks like the pressure on the drivers to gain positions at the start may have diminished slightly this season so T1 in Germany may not be quite as exciting as it has been in years gone by. The drivers seem to be approaching the first corner of the races much more carefully than in previous seasons, perhaps because they know they can overtake in the race itself using DRS, so the pressure to make up places at the start is reduced, thereby minimising driver errors on the opening lap.

After the opening sequence of corners the pack heads onto T6 where the track is again downhill. Overtaking is not likely there, it may be from T2 - T4 as the track is very wide and there are a number of lines the drivers can take through that section, particularly in the wet, but until they reach T8 / T9 there is nothing hugely challenging for the drivers. T8 / T9 is the best part of the track from the drivers' perspective - it is flat out uphill and the only real high-speed corner on the track where they need to take the right line to make sure they do not lose any time on the lap. T10, T11 and T12 are all relatively easy and then it is the flat out blast down to the best overtaking spot on the circuit at T13.

Weight of lightest ever Caterham Seven: < 400 kgs

Number of patents filed by GE in 2010: > 2,900

Global page views on CNN.com in May 2011: 1.6 billion

Weather

Mixed - sunshine / showers

Max air temperature: 19°

Max track temperature: 20°

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

1239: Car leaves for grid / 1 lap

1245: Pitlane closes

1259: Fire up

1301: Lights out - start on intermediate tyres

Retired lap 10 - Instructed to stop due to engine oil leak

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

1238: Car leaves for grid / 2 laps (1 through pitlane)

1245: Pitlane closes

1259: Fire up

1301: Lights out - start on intermediate tyres

Retired lap 2 - gearbox issue caused by possible electrical problem

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "I had a decent start and was getting set to pass Timo but then had the call to stop the car to prevent any damage to the engine because of an oil leak. It's obviously not how we wanted the race to go but our reliability record has improved dramatically this season and this is just one of those blips. I'm sure we'll bounce back at the Nurburgring where we may well have similar weather conditions, so we'll move on and make sure we learn the lessons from this weekend."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "What a shame! I had a really good start but then lost fourth gear and had to retire the car. The conditions out there were exactly what they should be for real drivers - a mix of two types of circuit, one wet, one dry, exactly what I love racing in and the type of race we could have taken advantage of. But these things happen so we'll move on to Germany and keep on pushing."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "After the excellent result we had in qualifying yesterday we were unfortunately unable translate that into a result today because of the mechanical issues we had on both cars. We were not lucky today and that meant it was a short race for us on both sides of the garage. However, I am sure we will find a solution for the problems and make sure we get both cars across the finish line at the next race."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That is obviously a disappointing end to what had been a very encouraging weekend for the team. It looks like Heikki suffered an electrical problem on his gearbox which caused him to lose fourth gear so we had to pull him in and retire him. It was definitely not a problem with the gearbox itself so we need to take a close look at what went wrong on our side and make sure it does not happen again. On Jarno's car we instructed him to stop as he had an oil leak and lost pressure so we had to end his race early to ensure we did not damage the engine. Sometimes races end like this but we have been working very hard to minimise these sorts of problems, so we will regroup and come back stronger in Germany at the next race."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "That is such a shame. This weekend held huge promise for us after we had performed well on Friday, and especially well on Saturday, and in conditions like these we know both our drivers have the talent and experience to take whatever opportunities present themselves. We have worked very hard on improving the reliability of the cars throughout the season but you can never account for everything that might happen and unfortunately this just turned out to be one of those races that we have to move on from. Despite that, the whole weekend has been very encouraging, particularly for me seeing the huge support we have in the stands where there is a growing legion of fans wearing green and yellow, so now we will do our best to give them something to cheer for in Germany and Hungary before we head into the summer break."

Power to weight ratio of a Caterham Seven R500: 513 bhp / ton

How often a GE powered aircraft takes off: Every 2 seconds

Go to www.teamdellracing.com to see how Team Lotus has the power to do more with Dell

Weather

Sunshine / Showers

Min / max air temperature: 16° / 18°

Min / max track temperature: 16° / 20°

Positions / fastest laps

FP3

KOV 19th, 1.35.225 (lap 16) / TRU 20th, 1.36.905 (lap 16)

QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV 16th, 1.34.923 (lap 3) / TRU 21st, 1.35.456 (lap 2)

Q2

KOV 17th, 1.34.821 (lap 3)

Total laps

FP3

KOV: 21 / TRU: 21

QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV: 5 / TRU: 4

Q2

KOV: 4

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

FP3

1000 - 1002: Installation, 1 lap (prime tyres)

1002 - 1008: System checks

1008 - 1024: Run 2, 8 laps (prime tyres)

1024 - 1035: Adjustment - front / rear brake blanking, front wing flap

1035 - 1042: Run 3, 5 laps (prime tyres)

1042 - 1047: Adjustment - front brake blanking

1047 - 1100: Run 4, 7 laps (option tyres)

Qualifying

Q1 (option tyres)

1300 - 1305: Run 1, 3 laps

1305 - 1313: Refuel

1313 - 1317: Run 2, 1 lap

Finished 21st

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP3

1000 - 1002: Installation, 1 lap (prime tyres)

1002 - 1009: System checks

1009 - 1022: Run 2, 7 laps (prime tyres)

1022 - 1035: Adjustments - front / rear brake blanking, front wing flap

1035 - 1045: Run 3, 6 laps (prime tyres)

1045 - 1047: Adjustments - brake blanking

1047 - 1100: Run 4, 7 laps (option tyres)

Qualifying

Q1 (option tyres)

1300 - 1306: Run 1, 4 laps

1306 - 1313: Refuel

1313 - 1316: Run 2, 1 lap

Finished 16th

Q2

1331 - 1342: Run 1, 4 laps

Finished 17th

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "I'm very pleased with that. Before qualifying we knew it would be important to get as much as we could out of the dry tyres because the showers were expected - small showers, but we just didn't know when they were going to happen so we had to give it everything on the slicks. At the start of Q1 I managed to get a pretty decent lap in and got everything out of the car almost immediately. Then when I went out for the second run the rain started but having got it right when it was dry we were already where we needed to be so the whole team can be pleased about where we ended up.

"Hopefully I can put in a good race from 17th. I know the whole team is working very well together and even though the outright performance isn't quite there yet, we are still getting everything out of the car and attacking the teams ahead - that's what we're here to do in our second season, so days like today are very encouraging for me and everyone in Team Lotus."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "The rain played its part inQ1 and the session unfortunately was cut short after I'd only had one run. It wasn't quite good enough, which is a shame, but we have one car in Q2 which shows we have the pace to take the fight to the cars ahead, so hopefully I can have a strong race tomorrow, as long as I can avoid any bad luck with the conditions!"

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "This morning in P3 we took a step forward compared to yesterday because we had much improved weather conditions and that definitely helped us in qualifying. We were able to finalise our engine mapping comparisons and focus on the effect of the new regulations which allowed us to make the right decisions for qualifying. That was obviously the right strategy because when you look at Heikki's lap time in Q1 it was very good and that enabled him to get into Q2. Jarno was not so lucky because of the weather - it's always difficult when the conditions change that quickly, but for the whole team this has been a good day."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "I am delighted with our performance today, and especially pleased for Heikki. In conditions like that it is a good result for the whole team to get the strategy calls right and Heikki did exactly what he needed to do to get into Q2, and he gave it his best shot in that session as well so full credit to him. On Jarno's side he has been struggling all day with the balance so I am obviously disappointed for him, but tomorrow in the race I am sure it will be different and he will be able to attack the group in front. Overall this has been a good couple of days for us. The team has reacted well to all the changes we have had had to make with the amendments to the regulations and now we need to round off this weekend with a strong two-car finish and take the fight to the teams immediately in front of us."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "I am very happy with today's performance. To run like this at Silverstone, where the Team Lotus dream began when I met Mike here, and put a car into Q2 in only our second year is a big achievement. Heikki gave it 100% and Q2 is a deserved reward for his efforts today. I am a bit disappointed for Jarno - we'll have to find out what happened to him because there was quite a big gap between him and Heikki, but now I am looking forward to the race tomorrow. Our race pace has been good all season, so the aim is to maintain our much improved reliability record and see what happens in the race itself."

Amount of the world's electricity generated by GE equipment every

day: > 25%

Number of Shuttle launches covered live by CNN: All 134 (135th and

last today)

Number of Caterham racing series worldwide: 20

Weather

Rain, overcast

Min / max air temperature: 13° / 19°

Min / max track temperature: 12° / 17°

Fastest laps / positions

FP1

TRU 19th, 1.50.222 (lap 13) / CHA 20th, 1.51.119 (lap 14)

FP2

KOV 13th, 1.52.578 (lap 15) / TRU 21st, 1.55.155 (lap 11)

Total laps

FP1

TRU: 14 / CHA: 18

FP2

KOV: 16 / TRU: 12

Runplan

Drivers: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

FP1

0904 - 0906: Installation, 1 lap (Wet tyres)

0906 - 0918: System checks

0918 - 0920: Run 2, 1 lap, cruise control check 0920 - 0924: System checks, brake blanking adjusted

0924 - 0930: Run 3, 2 laps (intermediate tyres) 0930 - 0940: Adjustments - front wing, brake balance 0940 - 1000: Run 4, 10 laps 1000 - 1030: Adjustments - front brake blanking, rear wing

FP2

1357 - 1409: Run 1, 6 laps (wet tyres)

1409 - 1418: Adjustments - front wing flap / brake blanking front and rear

1418 - 1420: Run 2, 8 laps (wet tyres)

1421 - 1424: Adjustments - front wing flap

1424 - 1433: Run 3, 4 laps (intermediate tyres)

Runplan

Driver: Karun Chandhok (FP1) / Heikki Kovalainen (FP2)

Chassis: T128-04

FP1 - Karun Chandhok

0903 - 0906: Installation, 1 lap (wet tyres)

0906 - 0914: System checks

0914 - 0920: Run 2, 1 lap, cruise control check 0920 - 0925: System checks

0925 - 0931: Run 3, 2 laps (Change to intermediate tyres)

0931 - 0938: Adjustments - front wing, Brake blanking

0938 - 0955: Run 4, 8 laps

0955 - 1022: Adjustments - front brake blanking

1022 - 1030: Run 5, 6 laps

FP2 - Heikki Kovalainen

1355 - 1418: Run 1, 10 laps (wet tyres)

1418 - 1420: No adjustments - tyre and fuel only 1420 - 1433:

Run 2, 6 laps (intermediate tyres)

Karun Chandhok (FP1) - Chassis T128-04: "That was good a session. Obviously the conditions weren't ideal but it's useful mileage for me to get a feel for the car and the intermediate tyres - I'd never driven on Pirelli's intermediate before and it's a bit different to last year but I enjoyed myself out there and am pleased I've been able to add my contribution here at Silverstone, so close to my home in the UK."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "This morning it was a very good session with the stable conditions we had. This afternoon the weather obviously made our life a little bit tougher and in the end I don't think we ran enough with the intermediate tyre, which was looking pretty good at in the last minutes. But, I think we still completed most of the programme today, so from the data side it was pretty satisfactory."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "That was okay. The conditions were obviously tricky, starting with heavy showers and then drying out towards the end, but everything on the car was fine and the balance of the car felt good on both the wets and the inters. I'm not sure how much we've learnt, it's always difficult with this sort of weather, but it's the same for everyone so hopefully we'll have more time on track tomorrow and we'll see where we are in qualifying."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "We were not able to run so much today due to the weather, but in spite of this we were able to learn quite a bit about the engine behaviour in these conditions, especially on driveability and the cooling configurations of the car which is quite tight in the wet. The main challenge will be to work out the optimum fuel consumption for tomorrow because if it the weather dries up we have not run in dry conditions yet. It will be good for us to have an idea of that, so I hope it will be better in P3 tomorrow to make that a bit easier for us."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "Overall, a pretty reasonable day. I think the cars look more competitive than in Valencia and even though the day was made difficult by the changing weather conditions we were still able to try out two different aero configurations this morning, and work through a number of runs on the wet and intermediate compounds, so we will look through the data we have generated tonight and see what we can apply for tomorrow's sessions."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "It is very good to be back at Silverstone where it all started for this team two years ago when Mike managed to get me into the paddock and we started talking about Team Lotus. The changes to the track here are fantastic, for me this is now the best paddock in the whole calendar so I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to the BRDC for having done such a great job on this historic circuit. On track, it was a reasonable day for us - I am not too sure how much we can take from the limited running we had but I am happy with the job that both the race drivers did today, and am pleased that Karun was finally able to complete a decent number of laps in FP1. He is a great asset to our team and we are very pleased to have him on board. I am also delighted to see the continuing development of Caterham Team AirAsia, our GP2 team who are setting very high standards in their first year. They have come together into a race-winning outfit extremely quickly and it is very exciting to see their continued progress from within the heart of the team."

High fuel effect and one the most "lateral grip" tracks

Generally low grip

Very easy on brakes

Bumpy in high speed sector 1 and T11 / usually bottoming out is an issue for car handling (more than plank wear)

Wind has a big effect on top speeds reached in T1, T3 or T7 (now T11)

Overtaking is difficult

Typical balance issue

Overall grip and balance in HS is important for S1

Gears ratio (1st gear/others)

1st gear not used on track bar start - long 1st gear required for launch because of low grip on starting grid

Longer 2nd gear usually helps in S3

Long 4th gear may help in T5

Circuit particularity

Sensitivities

Bumpiness: Medium / high

Engine severity: Low

Overtaking chance: Low

GBX severity: Very low

Kerbs: Smooth

Lat/Long grip: Lateral

RH setting particularity: None

Aero eff ratio: Medium

Track grip evo during WE: Medium / high

Aero settings: High

Brake wear severity: Very low

Brake cooling necessity: Low

Team Lotus Partners

Pirelli tyre compounds in Silverstone: Hard (Prime) / Soft (Option)

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "The British Grand Prix is one of the classic races and one where I have always had a lot of support. Throughout my career the British fans have been very kind to me and since joining Team Lotus the support in the UK has been ever better, so it's great to be heading back there in the green and yellow for the second year. There are a few obvious changes this time around - we have the Pirelli tyres which have made our strategic decisions critical all season, and with the probable performance differential between the soft and the hard tyres I think qualifying could be pretty tight. Managing the degradation of both compounds will be important all weekend, and if there is a big gap in laptimes between them that could play into our hands - we'll see. The effect of DRS will also create more overtaking on Sunday than we've had for a long time, so hopefully we can take advantage of that and keep taking the battle to the cars ahead."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "Silverstone is our second home race and it's one of the great drivers' tracks so it's always a race I look forward to. There's obviously a huge amount of history around the whole place and the whole team is looking forward to getting back to another track where there will be big support for us in the stands over the whole weekend. The track itself is a good challenge from inside the cockpit. The first sector is very quick - Copse is taken at over 280kmh and then as you come into Maggots and Becketts where it's all about staying committed and keeping the car balanced through the whole section, right until the flat-out run up to Stowe. Overtaking was always pretty tricky at Silverstone but the way the tyres are behaving this year and with DRS I think we'll see a busy race, particularly with the compounds Pirelli are bringing.Whatever happens it'll be a great weekend!"

Mike Gascoyne: "I think all the signs are that Silverstone will be a good race for us. It's one of our two home Grand Prix so it is a chance to race in front of our families and friends and after we slipped a little in Valencia it gives us the opportunity to get back to the level of performance that we know we can extract from this year's car. I do not think the rule changes we will see at Silverstone will have a great effect on the grid order but we have been making preparations for this weekend both in the wind tunnel and in some of the work we have been doing at the straightline test we are running in the UK on Monday and Tuesday this week, so we know what to expect."

Tony Fernandes: "Back to the UK and our other home race. This is a big race for us, both in terms of track performance where we want to keep bringing down the gap to the midfield, and because we will see the GE and Caterham logos on the cars and across the whole team for the first time. Being able to race with two such important additions to the team is a very big step forward for us - our partnership with GE is a clear sign that one of the most important members of the global business community shares our vision for the future of our team, and the plans for Caterham will start being revealed very soon.The long-term strategy for the Caterham Group is taking shape and we are all very excited about the direction we are taking, as I am sure our fans and our partners will be too."

Number of times AirAsia has won World's Best Lowcost Airline (consecutively): Three

Followers of CNN's Breaking News Twitter feed: > 4.5 million

Number of hours of voluntary service provided to community organisations by Dell employees per year: > 200,000

Weather

Sunny, clear skies

Max air temperature: 29°

Min / max track temperature: 45°

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

1331: Car leaves for grid / 1 lap

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out - start on option tyres Pitstop 1 - option tyres Pitstop 2 - prime tyres

Finished: 20th

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

1331: Car leaves for grid / 1 lap

1345: Pitlane closes

1359: Fire up

1401: Lights out - start on option tyres Pitstop 1 - option tyres Pitstop 2 - option tyres Pitstop 3 - prime tyres

Finished: 19th

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "For me that was a very good race. I'm happy that we seem to have regained the early season form after Monaco and Canada where I wasn't really feeling too comfortable in the car. Today the conditions were pretty hot out there but I felt good all afternoon - I've prepared myself physically for this sort of heat so it wasn't hard at all to push right to the end. I didn't have any issues and after we went to the three stop strategy I was able to keep up a good pace after each stop. We know where we have to improve the car to keep taking the fight to the teams ahead, and that will come in time, but this is a long-term plan and we are definitely on the right course."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "That was a good race for me. We tried a couple of different strategies to cover all our options and even though my second set was gone by the end I definitely enjoyed myself out there. This was always going to be a track where we knew we would have to keep pushing to get anything out of it, but it's satisfying for the team to get both cars to the end and be well clear of the cars behind us."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "Engine-wise that was a good race. Valencia is a track that is hard on both engine temperatures and fuel consumption and we managed both elements well on both cars. The maps we used gave the drivers the right options today which helped when we split the strategies as we did not suffer any drop in performance as a result of the switch."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A very solid race from both drivers. We had considered two stops on both cars but when we saw higher degradation levels on Heikki's car we put him onto three and kept Jarno on two to give both of them a chance to fight. Jarno nearly passed Heikki in the final stops but Heikki's fresh rubber gave him the chance to edge ahead and the key goal today was to make sure they both finished, so I am pleased we achieved that. This has not been our most competitive type of track but despite that we finished well and that sets us up nicely for Silverstone."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "A pretty good day for us. I am happy both cars finished but as we are steadily increasing our competitiveness it would have been good to have finished a bit higher. It is obviously a big challenge for us to find the 0.5 second that will propel us towards the midfield teams, but we have the right elements in place to help us do that. We will find more downforce and we will continue to grow, both in experience and in pace, and that is why I see days like today as another step in the right direction."

Aproximate number of official CNN Twitter followers: > 16 million

Number of Ruroc helmets to equal weight of an unfuelled F1 car: 915

Go to www.teamdellracing.com to see how Team Lotus has the power to

do more with Dell

Weather

Dry, sunny

Min / max air temperature: 26° / 28°

Min / max track temperature: 37° / 45°

Positions / fastest laps

FP3

KOV 19th, 1.41.267 (lap 12) / TRU 20th, 1.41.690 (lap 17)

QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV 19th, 1.41.664 (lap 9) / TRU 20th, 1.42.234 (lap 4)

Total laps

FP3

KOV: 15 / TRU: 18

QUALIFYING

Q1

KOV: 10 / TRU: 9

Runplan

Driver: Jarno Trulli

Chassis: T128-01

FP3

1100 - 1103: Installation, 1 lap

1103 - 1011: System checks

1111 - 1123: Run 2, 6 laps

1123 - 1135: Adjustment - rear ride height

1135 - 1147: Run 3, 6 laps

1147 - 1150: Adjustment - front wing flap 1150 - 1200: Run 4, 5 laps

Qualifying

Q1 (all runs on option tyres)

1400 - 1410: Run 1, 5 laps

1410 - 1412: Refuel / front wing flap adjustment

1412 - 1421: Run 2, 4laps

Finished 20th

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP3

1100 - 1103: Installation, 1 lap

1103 - 1118: System checks

1118 - 1132: Run 2, 7 laps

1132 - 1141: Adjustments - front wing flap

1141 - 1157: Run 3, 7 laps

Qualifying

Q1 (option tyres)

1401 - 1412: Run 1, 6 laps

1412 - 1414: Refuel

1414 - 1421: Run 2, 4 laps

Finished 19th

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "For me that was a pretty good performance. I found some more time on my second run and I definitely got as much as I could out of myself and the car, so even though the gap to the cars ahead isn't what we want it to be it's still satisfying to have delivered on that goal. We knew from the practice sessions that the time difference would be about what it turned out to be and despite the hard work put in right across the whole team we weren't able to close it up any more."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "Traffic played a major role in my qualifying today. Everywhere I went it seemed as if there was someone right on the racing line, so to be honest I'm a bit disappointed. The car felt good and without the traffic I'm sure there was more pace in it, but even though we were all told not to back off in sector three there were other cars doing that and unfortunately that had a big influence on the times. However, now it's all about the race tomorrow and I think we can continue to show that the speed of the car in race trim is good. I want to make sure I have another good start and let's see what happens from there."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "During FP3 we completed a good programme with Heikki. We had a small electrical issue with Jarno but that was quickly fixed and from our perspective that was a good session. One of the goals was to give the drivers the right engine maps to maximise performance in the slow speed corners and with the mileage we completed we were able to achieve that. In qualifying the result was not quite what we had hoped for but we definitely know where we have to improve the car and I am confident we are going in the right direction."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A reasonably good qualifying session for us. We are a little further down than we expected to be here, but we are well clear of the cars behind. Tomorrow will be a long hard race and the goal for us is to have a reliable two car finish and see what we can pick up."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "I watched that session from Paris where I have had a very good week working on deals for AirAsia and for Team Lotus. Heikki put in another outstanding performance and had Jarno not had that spin at the end of Q1 he would have definitely been right up there with his teammate. Even though the times today may not have been quite as good as we would have hoped for I am still immensely proud of the way the whole team keeps performing. We are halfway through our second season and we have already had a few highs and a few lows, but I really do love our team - the way we go about our business is winning us more new fans every day, and as long as we keep working hard, never lose the passion and determination that is at the heart of our team, we will see our dreams come true."

Hours of sports programming CNN broadcasts each year: > 1,000 Number of DuPont employees worldwide: > 61,000 Length of Valencia circuit: 5,419 mtrs

Weather

Dry, overcast

Min / max air temperature: 21˚ / 26˚

Min / max track temperature: 28˚ / 34˚

Fastest laps / positions

FP1

KOV 19th, 1.44.136 (lap 8) / CHA 24th, n/a

FP2

KOV 18th, 1.42.156 (lap 22) / TRU 19th 1.42.239 (lap 17)

Total laps

FP1

KOV: 18 / CHA: 2

FP2

TRU: 25 / KOV: 39

Runplan

Drivers: Karun Chandhok (FP1)

Jarno Trulli (FP2)

Chassis: T128-01

FP1 - Karun Chandhok

1001 - 1004: Installation, 1 lap

1004 - 1036: System checks

1036 - 1043: Run 2: 1 lap - loss of 2nd gear terminates run

FP2 (Jarno Trulli)

1402 - 1414: Run 1, 7 laps

1414 - 1447: Adjustments - rear ride height

1447 - 1459: Run 2, 6 laps

1459 - 1503: Adjustments - front wing flap

1503 - 1514: Run 3, 6 laps

1514 - 1520: Refuel

1520 - 1531: Run 4, 6 laps

Runplan

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Chassis: T128-04

FP1

1001 - 1004: Installation, 1 lap

1004 - 1008: System checks / front wing flap change

1008 - 1010: Installation 2, 1 lap

1010 - 1044: System checks / front wing flap change

1044 - 1102: Run 3, 10 laps

1102 - 1114: Adjustments - front torsion bar / front & rear anti roll bars

1114 - 1124: Run 4, 6 laps

FP2

1401 - 1411: Run 1, 6 laps

1411 - 1421: Adjustments - front wing flap

1421 - 1441: Run 2, 12 laps

1441 - 1449: Adjustments - front wing flap

1449 - 1457: Run 3, 5 laps

1457 - 1504: Adjustments - front wing flap

1504 - 1532: Run 4, 16 laps

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "A pretty straightforward day for me. The car improved throughout both sessions and having got through the whole plan on both tyres we have enough data to work on overnight to find some more speed tomorrow."

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "That was a good afternoon for me and thanks to the team for the job they did today. We worked on a couple of power steering options and I'm pretty pleased with what we found on the second option. We got through a decent number of laps and even though we didn't have much time to work on setup options I think we're moving in the right direction so it'll be interesting to see how we've progressed tomorrow."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "From the engine perspective that was quite a good day. Karun's gearbox issue this morning limited the work we could do with him but we did complete a number of runs with Heikki using engine maps that we will be running in Silverstone which will help us understand how to maximise the cooling and fuel consumption of the engine there, on a track that isn't as hot as Valencia. That data, along with everything else we have learnt today, is going to be very useful for this weekend and the next race, so I am pleased with the work we have completed today."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A reasonable first day in Valencia. As we expected the track was very dusty early on. Unfortunately this morning Karun had a gearbox issue with second gear which cut his run in FP1 short - that was a new gearbox so we need to work with Red Bull Technology to understand how that happened and put it right. In FP2 Jarno had a trouble free afternoon and Heikki worked through his full programme for the day, however today's times do not reflect where we expect to be tomorrow so the focus for tonight is on extracting more performance from the car and pushing ahead tomorrow."

Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer: "A solid day for us but obviously a shame for Karun that his morning was cut short. He will have more opportunities to drive in FP1s for us so he will have more chances on track, but apart from that we had a good day. This afternoon we completed decent mileage and while there's obviously more pace to come, I'm pleased with the overall performance from the whole team today."

Qualify Result:

P1 VET 1.37.587 Q3

P2 WEB 1:37.662 Q3

P3 HAM 1:37.969 Q3

TL best P19 TRU 1:40.658 Q1

2010 Race Result:

P1 VET 1:39.141 L52

P2 HAM 1:39.156 L56

P3 BUT 1:38.766 L54

TL best P21 TRU 1:41.770 L53

Quick description:

Longitudinal "stop and go" track

Many hard braking & traction areas

Very smooth track surface with no bumps and kerbs are not an issue

Run very low ride height but plank wear is high due to kerb usage

Possible high impact load on steering column when driver use kerbs through the T18 - T24 high-speed section

Overtaking is difficult and hard on brake temperature & wear

Overall grip gradually increases over weekend as the circuit is used infrequently

Typical balance issue:

Braking and traction stability are the main issues

Gears ratio (1st gear/others):

1st gear used 4/5 times each lap in T8, T10, T17 and T25

Circuit Sensitivities:

Bumpiness: Very smooth

Overtaking chance: Very low

Kerbs: Low / medium

Engine severity: High

GBX severity: High

Lat/Long grip: Longitudinal

RH setting particularity: Low front RH possible

Aero eff ratio: High

Track grip evo during WE: Very high

Aero settings: Medium / high

Brake wear severity: High

Brake cooling necessity: High

Team Lotus Partners:

Pirelli tyre compounds in Valencia: Medium (Prime) / Soft (Option)

Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01: "I left a very wet Canada and headed to my home in Miami for a few days of sun before returning to Europe for the next race. Despite the finishing position in Canada I was really pleased with my performance there across the whole weekend. It was a tough race for sure and I've already said that I think the FIA played it just right. At times it was obvious that the cars were undriveable in the conditions so when they stopped the race, and brought out the safety cars, it was exactly the right times to do so. I finished the race with the inerter dangling around between my legs - the guys on the pitwall were urging me to bring it home and while it would have been easier to park it, it's times like that when you have to do whatever you can to help the team. Having a large lump of metal hanging about was definitely holding me back and I wasn't able to push as hard as I'd have liked, but it was still pretty satisfying to catch the guys ahead and finish just behind them as we crossed the line.

"Now it's Valencia. It's another temporary circuit and a good challenge for the drivers whilst also being very safe. In contrast to Canada the track surface in Valencia has strong evolution over the weekend - It starts out dusty on Friday but by Sunday there is a lot of grip and the lap times come down all weekend. It's a track where you need to find a rhythm. Sections of it flow but then you have other areas that are very much stop and go - long straights with hard braking at the end into tight corners. First gear is used a lot more here than most tracks and often at the end of a flat out straight so the brake wear is high. I'm looking forward to it - the Spanish fans are some of the most passionate in the world and they've taken Team Lotus to their hearts so I think it will be a good weekend for us all round."

Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: "Straight after Canada I headed down to New York with Tony, Mike, Ansar Ali from Caterham Cars and some of the team to take part in the GE announcement. We had a very good couple of days in NYC and at GE's HQ and I'm really pleased for the whole team that we've been able to bring GE on board. Signing them up is massive news for us and is exactly the sort of partner Tony and Mike told me they were targeting when I first joined the team in 2010.

"After New York I went home for a few days before the trip to Valencia. I'm looking forward to the European GP as I think the heat and the demands of the circuit should suit our car well. It's not exactly a street circuit, it's a semi-street circuit with a very smooth track surface with almost no bumps and low kerbs. It has long straights and a number of tight corners that means finding the right downforce level is critical to maximising performance. Pirelli is bringing the softs (option) and the mediums (prime) which we haven't raced yet this season so I think we will have some work to do on Friday to look at how to get the most out of them. We've been easy on the tyres all season so hopefully that will be the case again in Valencia, giving us strategic options that we've used well all season - Q2 is still the goal for qualifying and then let's see what happens on Sunday."

Mike Gascoyne: "We learnt a number of important lessons in Canada and that weekend is now behind us and we are straight on to Valencia.

Before leaving North America I was lucky enough to go GE's General Research Centre to be shown around, just after Tony had announced our partnership with them. From an engineering perspective the whole operation is breathtaking.

"Now it is back to Spain and the European Grand Prix. In terms of downforce levels Valencia is unlike most of the other tracks in the calendar - we run more wing than in Canada for example, but less than a number of the other tracks like Barcelona or Turkey. The prime tyre here is the medium which we are racing for the first time this season. We ran it in on Friday in Canada and it behaved pretty well but as degradation can be reasonably high on Fridays in Valencia, due to the amount of dust and sand on track, we will be looking closely at how it performs and how we can take advantage of the time difference between the primes and the options on Saturday and Sunday."

Tony Fernandes: "The Canada weekend was definitely one of highs and lows. Our performance in qualifying was especially pleasing and the aim is to build on that again in Valencia and throughout the season, but the race was obviously a missed opportunity. It is important that we learn from that experience, cut out the same mistakes again and make sure we are in the right place to take advantage of such extraordinary circumstances in the future. It is all part of the learning curve and you have to have the lows to truly appreciate the highs.

"With that in mind it felt like perfect timing to go straight to the US and unveil our partnership with GE. Just before I went on CNN to make the announcement I was shown a picture of all of our staff back in Hingham crowded around a TV waiting to see me make the announcement and that was a special feeling. GE is obviously good news but seeing how much it meant to the people back at the factory drove home just how important that announcement is for each and every one of us in Team Lotus. We have definitely taken a huge step forward with the GE partnership and, on a personal level, I am delighted that a company that has supported AirAsia since day one has seen the same potential in this team. We are still very much in our infancy so to attract a brand of the calibre of GE at this early stage in our development sends out a very strong message to our fans, existing and future partners and the other teams in the pitlane that we are going to be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.

"Now our attention turns to Valencia. This is our sixth trip to Spain this year and a venue I particularly enjoyed in 2010. Valencia is similar to Montreal and Monaco in the way Formula 1 is embraced across the whole city and that level of support creates a fabulous atmosphere, on and off track. On track the goals are clear - repeat the qualifying performance from Canada and keep up our much improved reliability record to bring both cars home on Sunday. It would also be good if the other drivers on the grid could avoid using either of our cars as launch ramps this year..."

As part of the partnership, the GE branding will be seen on the Team Lotus T128 F1 cars and across the team's entire race and factory structure from the British Grand Prix in July 2011.

The partnership with GE provides extensive brand and business benefits to both parties, giving GE a high-profile global platform to showcase advanced technologies and providing Team Lotus with leading edge technological, R&D and manufacturing resources that will help accelerate the team's progress, on and off track.

Tony Fernandes, Team Lotus Team Principal, said: "On behalf of the whole team I am very proud to welcome GE into the Team Lotus family. It is a resounding endorsement of the remarkable development of our team that we have unveiled a partnership of this significance with one of the world's most eminent organisations. We are already exploring a number of initiatives that will bring the GE / Team Lotus relationship to life across the spectrum of GE's interests, from future automotive electrification technologies, materials sciences, design processes and core engineering competencies to the showcasing of GE's world class e-infrastructure capabilities throughout the global business and government communities in race and non-race markets alike. In short, we have a huge array of platforms to work across driven by passionate people in both organisations who can't wait to put their collective imagination to work."

Said Jeff Immelt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for GE: "We are excited to sponsor Team Lotus and continue our relationship with Tony Fernandes. We have worked with Tony for many years and know his commitment to the aviation business. The global appeal and popularity of Formula 1 provides a unique opportunity for GE and we look forward to great things from Tony again as we become part of his team."