Search the Community

Lotus F1 Team would like to reassure its fans that even though the team’s factory at Enstone will shut down for two weeks from the end of this week, there will be plenty to keep them occupied during the summer break. To this end, the team has launched the papercraft E20. Instead of the factory and around 500 people required to create the real thing, this particular E20 only requires six sheets of 180g paper, some time and patience. Download it here. There are no resource restrictions or customer chassis preclusions the papercraft E20, which can be raced by paper people everywhere (subject to local bylaws). The papercraft E20 does not come with an engine. The more creative methods of motorising it should be sent to [email protected] For those who don’t want to risk paper cuts, the Lotus F1 Team website www.lotusf1team.com will continue as the mice in the press office keep the presses running over the entirety of the break. With just over 30 days until the Belgian Grand Prix, Lotus F1 Team would like to wish everyone a well deserved rest until the second half of the season kicks off. NB – It has also come to the team’s notice that there might be other sporting activities occurring during August. Good luck to all Olympians in the London 2012 Olympics from the 16 different nationalities represented at Enstone.

Lotus F1 Team scored a fantastic double podium in Budapest this afternoon, with second place for Kimi Räikkönen and third for Romain Grosjean in a searing hot and searing paced Hungarian Grand Prix. The team returns to third position in the Constructors’ Championship, just one point off second. Despite his strong result, Kimi drops to fifth spot in the Driver’s Championship ; just one point off today’s race winner Lewis Hamilton who is now fourth in the standings. Romain remains in eighth, equal on points with seventh placed driver Jenson Button. Both drivers started on scrubbed soft compound Pirelli tyres, changing to another set of scrubbed softs and finishing on new sets of the medium compound tyres. Romain stopped for tyres on laps 19 and 39. Kimi on laps 20 and 45. Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E20-05 "It’s a shame we couldn’t quite get the win but it’s a good result for the team and we’ll keep pushing to make that final step. My start was not too bad but then we had some issues with the KERS and I lost a place to Fernando [Alonso]. When we got it working again we were stuck in the pack so it was a bit frustrating, but once we were in clear air we could push and it looked like we could make up a few places in the second stops. The team said it would be very close with Romain, but it was okay in the end. We managed to catch Lewis [Hamilton] but it was impossible to pass.” Romain Grosjean, P3, E20-04 “It’s a good result for the team, but to be honest I’m a bit disappointed. We had a good battle for the lead with Lewis [Hamilton] all through the first two stints, but then I got stuck behind Michael [schumacher] who didn’t respect the blue flags at all which cost me a lot of time. Because of this I lost a place to Kimi, and at the same time a possible chance to fight for the win. It’s very hard to overtake here ; every time I came close to someone in front I would lose a bit of front end grip which made it impossible. Still, that’s racing and we’ve take home a lot of points for the Constructors’ Championship which is a real positive.” Eric Boullier, Team Principal "Both cars on the podium end a pretty good weekend for the team. For everyone back at Enstone we must pay credit as they work so hard for results like this, but seldom get to taste the champagne at the track. I’m very happy that Romain came back after a tough weekend in Germany and I’m very happy to see Kimi fighting for the win. Our new approach to qualifying is delivering. We qualified better this weekend and we chased the leader of the race for many laps. On a different track layout which allows overtaking I think we could have won this race.” James Allison, Technical Director “It was an excellent race from both our drivers, from the E20 and from the whole team. We made very strong progress with a good haul of Drivers’ and Constructors’ points today. We’re only just past the halfway mark in the season so it’s not fantasy to think that we’re still in the hunt in both championships. The general trend is of our car getting stronger and I hope that we can press that home in the coming races.” Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader “A fantastic double podium today and very important for the championship. We’ve worked very closely with the chassis team all weekend to deliver the correct engine response into and out of the many corners of the Hungaroring and the package has looked quick all weekend. It’s very positive that we are able to score results on all types of tracks, from the high speed circuits such as Hockenheim to the low average speeds of the Hungaroring.”

Romain Grosjean secured a best-ever front row starting spot with the second fastest time in qualifying for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix, whilst Kimi Räikkönen will start from fifth position after a searing hot session at the Hungaroring. Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q : P5, 1:21.730. FP3 : P6, 1:21.953 “Not a bad qualifying performance for sure, but it’s a bit disappointing I didn’t go faster when it mattered. The car feels good, but I didn’t get the crucial lap together at the right time. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.” Romain Grosjean, E20-04. Q : P2, 1.21.366 FP3 : P7 1:22.110 “Qualifying was very tight and it was difficult to see where we would end up so on the front row is fantastic. We came here after a difficult weekend at Hockenheim and to be honest I didn’t get off to the best start yesterday. We worked hard to improve things overnight and the car felt much better in practice this morning. I’m very happy and just a little bit surprised to be P2 on the grid. Today’s job is done, let’s see what we can do tomorrow.” Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director : “It’s great to be on the front row.” How do you assess today’s qualifying performance ? “It’s been a good day. It’s great to be on the front row with Romain. We’d like to have seen Kimi a little further up the order – especially as his Q2 time was better than he achieved in Q3 – but overall it’s been an excellent weekend so far ; let’s hope that continues tomorrow. Our target has been to improve our qualifying performance ; we’ve clearly demonstrated that today.” What can be achieved in the race ? “We’re starting from the front row so there is good potential. It’s a difficult circuit to overtake – one of the hardest next to Monaco and Singapore. A good start will clearly be very important. After the start, even with the DRS, the straight is not long enough to mount an overtaking bid unless a car ahead is suffering from tyre degradation or something else to slow them down.” How do both tyre compounds perform here ? “Both the medium and soft compounds have exhibited pretty low degradation so we have no worries or concerns about durability, even with high temperatures.” Does the weather forecast throw any curve balls ? “Conditions similar to those we’ve seen over the last couple of days have been forecast. There is potential for some rain, but it’s so hot here there could be thunder showers like we saw on Friday. We’re ready for whatever the weather throws at us.”

Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean took to the Hungaroring circuit today for the first practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. With a wonderfully warm morning and marvellously mixed conditions in the afternoon, the team assessed a number of aerodynamic developments. Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes : Pirelli’s medium compound tyres were used in the morning. The medium, soft and intermediate compounds were used in the afternoon. We spent the morning tuning the new aerodynamic device with various improvements after initial running in Hockenheim. Romain had a normal programme in the morning, and an interrupted afternoon after an off which damaged his bodywork. What we learned today : The new aerodynamic system is now working well and will have its race debut in the near future. Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05 Free practice 1 : P8, 1:23.983, 24 laps Free practice 2 : P2, 1:22.180, 20 laps Kimi : “It was a normal Friday for me. We did the normal things and tried to make the car as quick as it can be. We were second fastest which was good, and we’ve managed to improve the setup on my car over the last few races so I’ve been pretty happy with it. We’re just making small improvements, but we’re making them all the time and going in the right direction. It’s only Friday, but we’re hoping for another good day tomorrow. ” Romain Grosjean, E20-04 Free practice 1 : P5, 1:23.633, 24 laps Free practice 2 : P9, 1:22.922, 12 laps Romain : “Not the best day we’ve had but not the worst either. The car didn’t feel quite as I like it, similar to how it felt in Hockenheim, which made things a bit tricky. I made a mistake running wide on the exit of turn seven in the second session which meant I touched the wall, so a big apology to the guys for that. On a more positive note we now understand a few things which need improving in terms of setup, so hopefully tomorrow these will make a difference and I’ll have the confidence to push a bit harder and show the true pace of the car.” James Allison, Technical Director : “We conducted valuable analysis of our latest aerodynamic developments on Kimi’s car this morning which help bring it a step closer to deployment in a race sometime in the future. Romain was uncomfortable with his car today which is something we will try to understand this evening. Kimi was pretty happy overall, even this morning when we weren’t running the native downforce settings for this circuit. With the Hungary setup in the afternoon, Kimi was comfortable, quick, and happy with both specifications of dry tyre. Whilst we haven’t conducted our usual long runs today it looks like both compounds should be reasonable race tyres.”

THE HUNGAR GAMES Lotus’s Romain Grosjean had a mare of a weekend in Germany and can’t get to Budapest soon enough to get his season back on track. Fortunately, the two rounds are back-to-back. Kimi Raikkonen, on the other hand, put in a solid drive from P10 to fourth across the line and ended up getting promoted to third when Sebastian Vettel was penalised. He’s now fourth in the drivers’ championship. Should Lotus’s elusive first win come in Hungary this weekend, it could put the cat among the pigeons. ON TRACK The first F1 circuit to appear from the Eastern Bloc, the Hungaroring has been dubbed ‘Monaco without the buildings’ and as a result, races can be processional. However, it’s also true that since 1986 this circuit has hosted some truly remarkable outcomes and a few breathtaking moves too. The drivers enjoy it too because it’s so involving. Each corner leads into the next, and there is very little chance to pause and catch one’s breath. The constantly changing gradient makes the track interesting to race on, and precision is of key importance because the car is turning for a large part of the lap. It can be hard on tyres, and the cars require mechanical grip and a torquey engine. Most of all, the emphasis is on downforce and teams will run maximum wing. The track runs along one side of a valley, drops down into the sweeping Turns 1 and 2, and then rises up again. It’s at this first corner that the only real chance of a passing move lies. The final section of spoon curves allows cars to bunch up tightly behind each other, all looking to catapult themselves past on the straight. Local start time: 14h00 Number of laps: 70 Circuit length: 4.381km Race distance: 306.630km Lap record: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari, 2004), 1m19.071 WHAT THE DRIVERS SAY Kimi Raikkonen: “If you had told me in January that we would be fourth halfway through the season, I think I would have been pretty pleased. It’s not a bad place to be, but I think we have a car good enough to have scored more points. I want to win and the whole team is pushing hard to make that happen, so let’s see what we can do in the second half of the season. I have won once in Hungary and finished second three times. It is a very hot and demanding race. There are two things which are really important for fast lap times: good turn in and good traction. If you have those, you’ll be competitive. This is one of those circuits where it’s very difficult to overtake, so you need to get to the front in qualifying and ideally avoid the dirty side of the grid.” Romain Grosjean: “There are races where nothing goes right and Germany was one of those. Let’s hope the luck will turn around and everything will be much better in Budapest. I scored my first GP2 Series pole position there in 2008. Last year I won and finished third, so I’m heading to Hungary with a positive attitude.” OFF TRACK Consisting of two very different cities, Buda on the west bank of the Danube River and Pest on the east bank, Budapest offers travelers Viennese romanticism and Iron Curtain character. Regarded as one of the most attractive cities in Europe, and with renowned nightlife and great cuisine, Budapest often hosts some of Formula One’s biggest parties – thanks in no small part to the month-long gap before the next race, which means pretty much everyone is on holiday on Sunday night. Most teams head to club Rio. Palm trees, dancing girls, and space for 6,000 revelers. The dance floor is open air, and the DJs among the best in Budapest. The winner of the Hungarian Grand Prix invariably ends up here. Lonely Planet recently voted A38 as the best bar in the world. Cruise the waters of the Danube on this ship-cum-nightclub. It used to be a Ukrainian stone-carrier but now it’s a summer-club with live music and DJs. Don’t be afraid to rock the boat! In 1934 Budapest was awarded the supreme title ‘Spa City’. It is unique in being the only large city to abound in fountains of healing water. The Gellert baths are perhaps the most impressive architectural example. Its effervescent pools can reach 38ºC. The indoor pool has wonderful classical styling and there’s an open air pool too, with a wave machine that dates back to the 1950s. The place to head for souvenirs and foodstuffs is Nagy Vasarcsarnok. Translated as ‘Central Market Hall’ it’s housed in a splendid 19th century building with a colourful green and yellow tiled roof. Handmade embroidered table cloths are popular buys here, and there are lots of stalls selling salami, paprika goose liver and a fruit spirit called Palinka. Statue Park is where communism in Hungary has gone to die, beyond the city boundaries. Thirty statues, many of which are on a huge scale, were taken from Budapest after its Soviet occupation and dumped in this park. Marx, Stalin, Lenin, all the usual suspects are here. Look out from the plateau of the paddock and you’ll spot an intestinal mess of red, green and blue plastic flumes jutting out on the hillside. This is the Aquarena Water Park and GP2 drivers have been known to skive off briefings so they can race each other down the water slides. After a hot, sweaty day at the track it’s the perfect pitstop on the way back to Budapest.

Kimi Raikkonen was classed third at Hockenheim having started back in tenth place.. He crossed the line in fourth, but with the stewards penalizing Sebastian Vettel 20 seconds for passing Jenson Button off the track, Kimi inherits the podium position even though he missed out on the rostrum bubbly. The Finn qualified a disappointing tenth in the rain affected session but made an aggressive start to Sunday’s race, making up two places on the first lap and then pulling off a thrilling maneuver on Force India’s Paul di Resta around Turns 7 and 8. Having started on the soft compound tyre, he went for the same again on Lap 11 but his middle stint was a little underwhelming. He held out until Lap 38 to switch to mediums, before passing Michael Schumacher and finishing behind the McLaren of Jenson Button. Romain Grosjean had a less rewarding race, making contact with Bruno Senna and coming off at the hairpin on Lap 1 with a broken front wing. He dropped to the back as he pitted for a replacement, and two more times for fresh tyres, opting for a soft-medium-medium-medium strategy. He finished in 18th. Romain drops to eighth in the drivers’ championship with 61 points, while Kimi rises to fourth with 98. Winner Fernando Alonso extends his lead in the championship to 154 points. Lotus drops one point behind McLaren to fourth in the constructors’ championship. Kimi Raikkonen: “We did the best we could given where we started, but the chance of victory was lost on Saturday, and not for the first time. We didn’t have much grip in the wet unfortunately. Therefore we can be quite happy with where we ended up today. My start was okay, but I had to slow down to avoid hitting Lewis [Hamilton], which let Paul [di Resta] past, and then I went after him. The car worked well today, and if we had started higher I think we could have done a bit better, but there are positives to take to the next race.” Romain Grosjean: “We were on the back foot this weekend having been given a five-place grid penalty for changing the gearbox. Nothing went right today. It’s a shame because I had a good start and made up some places through Turn 1. Then on the straight there was contact, and that was the race ruined. I’m not sure exactly what happened, I need to watch the on-board. My car was badly damaged with a broken wing and a puncture. I’m hoping for a much better weekend in Hungary.”

Lotus F1 Team finished in a fighting fourth with Kimi Räikkönen at the German Grand Prix, whilst Romain Grosjean battled back from first lap wing and tyre damage to finish in eighteenth position at the Hockenheim circuit this afternoon. Despite having yet to join the list of seven race winners thus far this season, Kimi moves up to an impressive fourth place in the Driver’s Championship whilst Romain drops a spot to eighth. The team also moves down one place to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, just one point off third position. Both drivers started on new soft compound Pirelli tyres. Romain stopped on lap 1 to replace his front wing and change to new medium compound tyres. Romain pitted again on lap 24 for a further set of mediums and a third time on lap 42 for softs. Kimi stopped on lap 11 for soft compound and lap 38 for new medium compound tyres. Kimi Räikkönen, P4, E20-05 "We did the best we could today from the position we started. My start was okay, but then I think Lewis [Hamilton] had a problem in front of me and I had to slow down to avoid hitting the back of his car. This let Paul [Di Resta] through in the DRS zone and from there we had a big hill to climb as it was tricky to get back past. Maybe if we had found a bit more pace in the wet yesterday we could have started higher and pushed the leaders, but it is what it is. For sure we were hoping for a bit better here, but the car worked well all through the race and we still brought home some good points for the team so there are some positives to take to the next race.” Romain Grosjean, P18, E20-04 “We were on the back foot from the outset after the grid penalty and nothing went right today. It’s a shame as I had a good start and took a few places in the first corner. Then on the straight there was contact and that was the race pretty much ruined for me. I’m not sure exactly what happened – we’ll have to look at the on-board footage to get a better idea – but my car was badly damaged with a broken front wing and a puncture. By the time I managed to get back to the pits the race was as good as over. You never want to have these kind of weekends, but it happens. It will make us enjoy the next good race even more.” Eric Boullier, Team Principal "We saw a great recovery from Kimi after yesterday’s issues. It was a very strong and experienced drive coupled with a good strategy from the team. Starting in tenth and nineteenth positions we were always going to have our work cut out, so it’s good to see Kimi score big points again and display strong race pace. With Romain it was a difficult first lap and he had to fight with a damaged car from then on. We have all seen him have very good weekends, so we need to ensure that he has solid weekends even when circumstances mean he starts from the back of the grid. As a team we had the same pace as the frontrunners so there is no question about our capacity to score podiums and maybe a win one day.” Alan Permane, Director of Trackside Operations “Romain was compromised by his first lap incident which severely damaged his floor, losing him a lot of downforce. With Kimi moving tenth to fourth we saw the strategy work as we wanted it to. We were hoping to be able to get on the podium but the first few laps cost a bit too much time. Ultimately we could run at the pace of the leaders, but we were just too far back to make the top three today. It’s a familiar story we know all too well ; we have to qualify better to get stronger results. The wet weather of Saturday really hurt us in qualifying here, so hopefully we can bounce back in Budapest and do a good job.” Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader “Hockenheim is a tough race on engines, with high top speeds around the first part of the lap but a twistier section in the back stadium section. Fuel consumption is also very high which was something we needed to watch throughout the race. It was a great performance from Kimi. He had the same pace as the top three, but starting in tenth he was not going to be able to realistically fight for the lead. Romain had a long race after the first lap incident so we decided to run some safer engine settings to be able to be more aggressive in the race where the engine will be used next.”

After demonstrating a promisingly brisk car in dry conditions, Kimi Räikkönen claimed tenth position during a rain afflicted qualifying session for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix, while Romain Grosjean was fifteenth fastest but will start in twentieth position due to a penalty for a gearbox change. Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q : P10, 1:45.811. FP3 : P4, 1:16.238 “We weren’t fast in the wet today for some reason and we need to look at why that was. I wasn’t able to get any grip from the tyres, even when we tried a fresh set of wets half way through the final qualifying session. In the dry the car is very good and in the races our car usually has strong pace. Let’s hope for some dry weather tomorrow and see what happens.” Romain Grosjean, E20-04. Q : P15, 1.40.574 FP3 : P11 1:16.962 “The rain seemed to come at the wrong time for me ; it always was at its heaviest when I was trying to go for a quick lap. It was certainly difficult out there to find enough grip and not to get held up by other cars. It’s difficult to understand why I was so far behind Kimi in qualifying when I’ve been very close to him during the rest of the weekend. I’ve got it all to do tomorrow and I’ll be working hard with my engineers to ensure we’ve got the quickest car and the best strategy to go for some points.” Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director : “A frustrating session.” How do you assess today’s qualifying performance ? “Qualifying was a frustrating session. In the dry we looked to be comfortably one of the quickest cars out there, but as soon as it rained we really struggled with both. We will obviously investigate why we weren’t able to extract any pace at the crucial time today.” What can be done in the race ? “The forecast is for a dry race and we are confident in our pace in those conditions, particularly over a race distance. Kimi can still have a good race from P10 on the grid and we’re looking at the strategy options for him. Romain has more work to do from P20, but it’s a relatively easy track in terms of overtaking with DRS so we can still achieve a good result.” What can be achieved by Romain from the back of the grid ? “Romain has his work cut out, but in dry conditions he’s likely to have one of the fastest cars on the track. We’ll be doing everything we can to give him the best strategy to move up the order and that’s certainly his objective for the race.”