Trulli and Kovalainen ready for semi-street circuit challenge
The two Lotus F1 race drivers, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen, are more than ready for the Australian GP held at the street circuit of Albert Park, where they will contest the second event ever for their new team.
Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03): “After Bahrain I went back to Europe and stayed in contact with the engineers to analyse the hydraulics issues we had in the race in Bahrain, try to see how we could improve the performance of the car and review the general operations of the team during the race weekend, which were really good!
“Then I flew into Australia on Sunday night, so I’m still a little bit jetlagged – it’s a pretty hard trip coming over here – the ten hour time difference means it’s always difficult to adapt, but we just have to get on with it.
“On previous visits over here I’ve made a few trips out to the countryside, having a look at the local vineyards and enjoying the weather. I love coming here - Australia’s a great country with great people, so I always enjoy myself here. It’s also good to try some good wines, some different local varieties, but I still prefer my own wine.....
"On the track itself – it’s very important here to have good braking, good stability and really solid traction. There aren’t so many high speed corners here – it’s all about braking and accelerating out of slow speed corners, and as it’s a bit bumpy you really have to have good braking points and good braking stability from the car. All in all I’m looking forward to building on the result in Bahrain, learning more about the car and enjoying the weekend.”
Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01): “After Bahrain I decided to go back to my European home in Switzerland, and spent nearly a week there. First, obviously, I was recovering from the Bahrain Grand Prix and then I had a few good training sessions before a quick day trip to Helsinki in Finland to meet some media. Then we flew to Australia on Saturday, and have been here since then; getting used to the time zone and doing a little bit of training and playing some golf while enjoying the sunshine.
“It’s very good to come here, the Australians are always very very friendly people. At the gate there were hundreds of people lined up waiting for the drivers to arrive and it’s such a festival atmosphere. The weather always seems to be great here too, usually sunny, and it’s good to come from the European winter to the sunshine and enjoy the city. It’s a great city, so many cool restaurants and there’s always plenty to do, so you could never get bored here.
“Albert Park is a very different circuit in comparison to Bahrain; it’s a semi-street circuit, so the surface is different, and the grip - especially on Friday morning - will be quite poor initially, but will improve quite a lot throughout the weekend, so we’ll need to keep on top of that and perhaps adjust the set up a little bit. Again, with a street circuit, the walls are very close to the track so you have to be up to it – you can’t just brake as late as possible and miss the apex and then try a bit better and brake a little earlier. You’ve got to go little by little and hopefully nail it in qualifying.
“You’ve got to use every bit of the track, every millimetre of the circuit. It looks more dramatic from the outside, but we’re used to it. Maximise as much as possible so you’ve got more room to get quickly through the next corner. “
Source: Lotus F1
