Lotus hopes to take a big step forward in Spain

After a failed start to the season but with the first signs of progress shown during the last Grand Prix held in China, the Lotus F1 team intends to continue its progression in the next race in Barcelona in a week, thanks to several new developments.

The technical director of the team, Nick Chester, stated that the team will benefit from new improvements on the engine mapping, which should allow for a new step forward. But that’s not all: We have a new cooling system and new elements on the bodywork coming – quite a significant evolution – plus some new features on the rear wing.

Chester is optimistic about the successful implementation of all these new features: « All the developments made to the car so far have led to an improvement, which is a real satisfaction and validates the hard work done at the factory. We also received more power from Renault Sport F1 in China, and I hope this will continue in Barcelona, which could make a huge difference. »

Nick Chester also explains that the novelty in China has made the car much more manageable thanks to a better torque delivery, which has helped the drivers. He also stated that the goal of other innovations – mostly aerodynamic – is to make the car more predictable for Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean.

The French driver should be pleased with these updates because after the Chinese Grand Prix, he complained to Autosport about the poor maneuverability of his E22 and the fact that it remained unpredictable: « It was very unstable and unpredictable. At the front, it’s less obvious on television, but it’s really both parts [front and rear, editor’s note]. We didn’t even know which one was going to slide! It was due to last year’s settings that didn’t work with this year’s regulations and the aerodynamics that didn’t perform as we wanted. Everything was connected. »

Grosjean also confided to the British publication that the problem stemmed from the settings defined for the E22, which followed those of the E21 but were not at all suited to the new regulations: « We started a bit late with our base settings, which was not ideal with this year’s regulations. The car was very difficult to drive and really not efficient. They [those who make the regulations] changed the tires, the aerodynamics, and the power unit, and we continued in the same direction as last year, which worked well with the E21 but didn’t really work for the E22. »

Moreover, the French driver really only worked on the settings of his car in China, but he remains optimistic for the rest of the season: « We now have ideas on how to adjust the car to make it easier to drive. We just need to keep working. »