T03 Barcelona - Day One Review

TEAM LOTUS T03 BARCELONA REVIEW - 18 / 02 / 11

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen / Chassis: T128-01

Weather: Grey, cloudy (am) / sunny (pm)

Min/Max track temp: 6˚/ 25˚

Fastest lap: 1.30.065 (lap 37)

Track description

- Lateral track with high percentage of high speed corners

- Slow-speed traction important through S3

- Medium brake energy

- Bumps at entry to T9 & braking into T10

- Grip level changes depend on conditions (rubbering-in, track temp & wind)

- 1st gear not used on track

- Drivers prefer to do T9 without downshifting

Circuit Peculiarity

- Medium bumpiness

- Low overtaking chance

- Smooth / medium kerbs

- Aero settings: high

- Brake wear severity: medium

- Brake cooling necessity: medium

- Track grip evolution over test: high

18/02/11 Runplan

0900 - 0901: Run 1, Installation lap (track has standing water in places)

0901 - 0930: Front and rear brake blanking reduced / brake balance changed

0930 - 0943: Run 2, 7 laps (pit launch on lap 7)

0943 - 0957: Front wing flap change

0957 - 1011: Run 3, 7 laps

1011 - 1024: Tyre change - circuit drying

1024 - 1036: Run 4, 6 laps

1036 - 1158: Water leak fixed, FW flap adj, F/R brake blanking reduced

1158 - 1210: Run 5, 6 laps

1210 - 1223: Front wing flap reduced

1223 - 1223: Run 6, 1 lap launch

1223 - 1236: Revised engine map

1236 - 1243: Run 7, 6 laps

1243 - 1403: Lunch / flap adjustment / new tyre baseline

1403 - 1415: Run 8, 9 laps

1415 - 1438: Baseline setup changed to medium

1438 - 1451: Run 9, 6 laps

1451 - 1513: Setup change for race simulation tests

1513 - 1524: Run 10, 5 laps

1513 - 1524: Gearbox lubrication problem ends sessioness

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN: "It was good to start the day with some runs on

the intermediates in proper damp conditions. There wasn't a lot of

standing water on the track but it was pretty damp all round - we

needed to try out the inters in these conditions so we've now amassed

some very useful data on those. After that we wanted to do a race

distance but the gearbox problem meant we couldn't complete that part

of the plan. Despite this I'm still finding that the car has good

balance and is basically a decent package - we'll sort out the

problems and tomorrow we'll try the race distance again and see where

we are after that."

MIKE GASCOYNE, CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER: "It was a reasonably

productive day although we had to stop slightly earlier than planned

due to a gearbox lubrication issue. This morning we were able to run

on the inters on a damp track for the first time and we have obtained

some useful data from those runs. We worked through the rest of the

compound choices throughout the day on high fuel loads which is

helping us learn more about how to maximise the performance of the

Pirellis with the car."