Lotus E22 Pre-launch Speculation

[marcush.]

you simply are 3 weeks delayed in your reality check .The real issue starts If your development team has missed one or more of the important tricks of the competition and you are on the backfoot already .
with Lotus bleeding talent of recent one may think the basics of the car should be ok but maybe a lack of guided refinement may be present .But who knows if the big names are necessary when the fundamental designs are right ....
My doubt is more directed towards the driver pairing -who might or might not try things not possible with the tools available.
a team short on funds does not need too many offs to get their programme severely derailled.It does hurt the big ones as well but if you ever happened to work with crashy drivers you know how things quickly turn into crap with drivers abusing their machinery .It does grind everything to a halt ...

[Manoah2u]

let's just remind everybody here on the honda team's status at the end of 2008, brawn buying the outfit,
spooning in a new engine.

what was the general consensus?
anybody faith in them?
thought they'd not make the grid?

oh wait, the won the first GP a 1-2 and won the championship. let's just not get too carried away.

[Manoah2u]

http://www.lotusf1team.com/back-to-scho ... ml?lang=en

How is Enstone placed heading into the 2014 season?

Our E22 development programme has been ongoing for over two years and it has been illuminating watching it grow. The backbone of Enstone is strong and we are relishing the challenge of the new season ahead.

How is progress with the E22?

From our perspective the figures look promising and development has been positive. That said, we are very much working with very little idea of what the other teams are doing. This is the first year of radically different regulations which means that all teams are developing their cars along potentially quite different avenues. It’s fascinating for us engineers and I hope it is fascinating for the fans too. We think we have a very good solution to the challenge and hopefully this will be seen when the E22 turns its wheels in anger.

Although the regulations are different, are there good lessons which can be carried over from the E21?

Yes, and I think we can still reflect on what a good car the E21 was as it finished the season still looking particularly competitive, and it was the only car able to get close to the Red Bull. There are certain concepts from the E21 which are still valid for the E22, but in particular our development methodology and synchronisation with our various simulations is especially relevant and promising.

How close is the E22 to completion?

We’ve made very good progress with the various homologation tests which took place before Christmas including chassis squeeze and side impact loading tests as well as the rear crash structure, meaning we just have the nose test to complete the car’s homologation. We’ve undertaken chassis fits for Romain and Pastor. Certainly, our partners who have seen the car have reported themselves to be very impressed with the layout and various solutions to the new technical challenges.

When are we likely to see the E22?

We’re going to keep our car under wraps a little longer than some other teams. We’ve decided that attending the Jerez test isn’t ideal for our build and development programme. We are likely to unveil the car before attending the Bahrain tests, and in Bahrain we should really be able to put the car through its paces in representative conditions.

selective reading can go both ways. same article above where all the negativity is from now highlighted in red.

Homologation tests were done before 24th of december, all that's left is nose homologation [thus they're working on that one].
which team has it's car completely homologated for 2014? Sauber showed their nose crash test.....but how about the rest of their car?
reading the last line; lotus doesn't concider Jerez to have 'representative conditions'.

again....no need to overreact to lotus' situation purely based on some words.

do we know on the current status of the other teams? how about forceindia? sauber?

[Manoah2u]

oh and last but not least;

lotusf1team.com/






all from the official website.

"POWERED BY RENAULT"

http://www.lotusf1team.com/-renault-352-.html?lang=en

think we can give this no-engine hype a rest.......


anyway, unrealistic but still fun photoshop on the E22

[ecapox]

"The backbone of Enstone is strong...."

So strong, in fact, that it lost its top driver. That was because they couldn't pay him on time....possibly at all.
So strong, in fact, that it has been bleeding key technical people in the past few months. Who knows why....

Even if Jerez is not representative of upcoming races,they would still be there if they could make it there. In a time with such huge regulation changes, it would be asinine to miss a test because there are so many things you could test. Any time that you can test on a track, you take advantage of it...unless there are other reasons why you cannot.

I don't buy his stories. Mainly because he cannot say differently. I believe they will make the grid at the first race. I don't believe they will be one of the top three teams. My guess is they will end up around 5-6 in the constructors championship. I wish them the best but I do not believe the funds are adequate to compete at this level and furthermore if something doesn't change, their spending is unsustainable.

"Powered by Renault" means nothing.....since they still list Kimi raikkonen as a driver on their website.

[bill shoe]

They could unveil the car before Bahrain and it wouldn't mean much. You can unveil a car with no engine, a dummy engine, or a real engine that you are not legally allowed to start because you have not caught up on your contractual financial obligations.

It's also possible that various non-Renault creditors (Kimi comes to mind?) could make claims or liens on Lotus to stop them from running in 2014 until they have paid off 2013 debts.

I'll have confidence that Lotus will race this year when a 2014-spec Lotus drives onto a track powered by a 2014-spec engine. At Bahrain, or the first race, or wherever.

Hope they do make it for the sake of the team and the talent on it, but kind of hope that they don't make it for the sake of the sport as a whole because the loss of Lotus would probably force some significant financial reform on F1.

[stefan_]

They will make it. Lotus has a strong core of people there, and I think Formula 1 can't afford to lose a team with such history.

[tok-tokkie]

Last year they found there was something seriously awry with their chassis at the first test. Anything similar this year and they will be 3 weeks late in finding out & being able to do something about it. I am a Lotus (Entstone) supporter so I am really sad they are unable to make this test & it is foreboding for the new season - going the way of Williams it seems.

[Thunder]

Accodring to AMuS Lotus just needs to pass the Nose Crash test to get the Car homoligated. All other Crash tests are done.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 67687.html

[stefan_]

That is according to what Nick Chester said on the Lotus website, not AMuS.

[Manoah2u]

Accodring to AMuS Lotus just needs to pass the Nose Crash test to get the Car homoligated. All other Crash tests are done.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 67687.html

it was mentioned in the articles above aswell already.

[Manoah2u]

Last year they found there was something seriously awry with their chassis at the first test. Anything similar this year and they will be 3 weeks late in finding out & being able to do something about it. I am a Lotus (Entstone) supporter so I am really sad they are unable to make this test & it is foreboding for the new season - going the way of Williams it seems.

nonsense. 'lotus' was in a way worse shape when renault decided to step out. but nobody said a bad word back then
because kubica was in the team. then, kimi came in the team resulting in the same. now kimi has left suddenly
all is bad? suddenly the 'saints' are gone and the team is an outcast and despised of? rediculous. If vettel would have
been in the team now, or alonso in the team, hell if massa or hulkenberg would be there people would be praising
lotus them taking time to produce a winning car.
suddenly now just because maldonado is there everything is bad?
i don't get why lotus wasn't smeared and despised of when they childishly and very unprofessional scr*wed Team Lotus [1malaysia], and were praised and awed especially when kimi kicked in. 'they' deserved way more negativy then then now.

[PhillipM]

It's nothing to do with the drivers as you seem to think, and everything to do with the financial backing of the team

Lotus is in trouble, and has barely scraped through enough funding for this year.

[the EDGE]

If lotus run into trouble at Bahrain they are screwed

There are only two 4 day tests with 4 days in between, hardly enough time to change anything let alone ship it out to the Middle East

Nobody's knocking lotus or their drivers they are just clearly in trouble and will likely do little running before Melbourne

[Mika1]

Scarbs analysis of Lotus' decision: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112045