press release – Page 6 – Chapman Report Online

June 1, 2010

Lotus Racing Turkish Grand Prix

Lotus Racing were having one of their best days of the season at the Turkish Grand Prix until a double hydraulics failure brought both Jarno and Heikki’s races to an end on laps 32 and 33 respectively, Jarno coming to a halt on track and Heikki retiring in the pit.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03) Started 19th, DNF: “It was difficult at the beginning with the hard tyres, and the team were telling me Heikki was quicker on the options, and as he was on a different strategy he got past. Afterwards, I was pulling away from our competitors comfortably, but the failure put an end to the good race I was having. “

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01) Started 20th, DNF: “What a shame. I lost power steering in turn eight and it looks like it was a hydraulics failure. At first I thought I had a puncture as the steering suddenly felt really strange, but then I lost the gearbox, the clutch, and throttle. It’s so unfortunate as this was our strongest race so far. I was on the softer tyre and although I wasn’t sure how they would run at the beginning of the race, they did in fact hang on really well. I can’t help but feel disappointed, but as I’ve said before these things happen, and we will work through this, and come out stronger as a result.

“We’re only a few tenths off the other teams per kilometre, and we know the areas to work on to improve this car. I’m confident we can make a very big step for next year and for now, we’ll move on and put this behind us.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “Obviously very disappointing to have two cars go out on the same lap when we were having such a strong race, our strongest performance all year. We started the cars with Jarno on the harder tyre, and Heikki on the soft – Heikki was slightly quicker on the option to start with, but towards the end of the stint Jarno was catching him. We were hanging on for the pitstops, monitoring the rain situation, but then had sudden hydraulic failures on both cars. Heikki’s was a leak from the power steering, and with Jarno we don’t know as yet what the specific issue was. Despite that we have to keep our chins up after what was a really strong weekend from the whole team, fix these problems and move on. ”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “This looked like it was going to be a great weekend for us so it’s obviously very disappointing to have it all brought to an end in such a fashion, after what was probably our best race so far. Jarno and Heikki should be very proud of the times they put in, and the whole team should be pleased with how far we’ve come. This is a low but to be champions we have to deal with the lows, learn from them and move on. It all reminds me of the early days of AirAsia, but we have just been awarded the title of world’s best low cost airline for the second year running, so I know we can repeat that with this team, and one day be victorious. Onwards and upwards, and now we’ll focus on Montreal.”

[press release from Lotus Racing]

May 29, 2010

Edging Ever Closer – Turkish GP Qualifying

Lotus Racing put in another solid performance in qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix, with Jarno Trulli finishing the session 19th and team mate Heikki Kovalainen 20th. Jarno ran the whole session on the harder prime tyres while Heikki started on the options, but opted to change to the prime after seeing Jarno recording faster lap times, a decision that paid off with both drivers finishing ahead of their closest competition, and edging ever closer to the teams ahead.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03) Qualified 19th, 13 laps, 1.30.237 / FP3 19 laps, best time 1.30.618: “I’m pretty pleased even though it was a bit of a difficult day. I had a minor problem this morning which meant I couldn’t really use all the time available to focus on setting up the car, so I just got in and got on with it. In quali I used both sets of hard tyres and it felt like the track was quite slippery, particularly in the braking zones, so I changed my driving style a bit and think I did quite a good job to be best of the new teams. I think we are catching up with the guys ahead, even though we are still a bit off. But we will have another big step when we go to Silverstone, and we’re also now working hard on next year’s car, so we’re definitely going in the right direction.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01) Qualified 20th, 11 laps, 1.30.519 / FP3 22 laps, best time 1.30.884: “It was good out there today. On our first run we went with the soft tyre which was probably the wrong choice as it wasn’t working quite as well as yesterday, but the second run on the primes was good. The car felt particularly stable around the high speed corners and the balance felt great so I’m happy. Jarno did a better time today, but I’m pushing hard – I’m always pushing to the limit and am looking forward to the race tomorrow. I feel confident, and hope we can close the gap again to the other guys ahead.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “I’m pleased with our performance in qualifying this afternoon. There was a question mark from this morning whether to run the prime or option tyres – we felt the car was more stable on the primes and that decision paid dividends with us being only 3.2seconds away from the Red Bulls who used the same tyres in Q1- that shows just how much progress we’ve made as a team from the start of the season, and that’s very satisfying. So – a good solid performance today and we’ll look forward to the race tomorrow where we want to get both our cars to the finish line.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “All in all today’s been another good day and it proves to me that our future is very bright. To be honest I was starting to dream about Q2, and while we may still be a little bit off that we’re clearly getting closer and closer, and thinking back to where we started, that’s incredible. We need to work on giving Jarno more confidence in the car, and perhaps today we could have got more from Heikki’s tyres, but I think there’s still more to come from the 2010 car – maybe even another 0.5 seconds. Tomorrow will be all about getting two cars home, and I know our team has the experience and strength to do that.

“Today we were just 3.2 seconds off the pace of the Red Bulls in Q1 and if you cast your mind back 10 short weeks to Bahrain you can see just how far we’ve come. There we were over five seconds away from the outright Q1 pace and anyone in the sport will tell you what an achievement it is to find nearly two seconds in just seven races. We were also just 2.4 seconds off Ferrari, celebrating their 800th race in Turkey, which is pretty spectacular for a team who are only seven races old – I think that shows to all those who expressed doubts about our participation that they were wrong. We’re also now in a position to turn our attention to the 2011 car, but we’re still here and fighting hard for this season – I want, in the nicest possible way, to take this fight to my mentors Frank Williams and Patrick Head and their team, from whom I’ve learnt an awful lot over the last few years, and compete with them and the likes of Toro Rosso and Sauber, and today’s yet another example of how we really can dream of doing just that. I’m now off to order a kebab for Jarno and Heikki. Well, maybe a kebab pizza for Jarno, and a reindeer kebab for Heikki, if anyone in Istanbul can find them one…..”

[press release from Lotus Racing]

May 27, 2010

Lotus Racing Turkish Grand Prix Preview

Onto Turkey for round seven of the 2010 FIA Formula One™ Championship and Lotus Racing are looking forward to another step forward at the Istanbul Park Circuit. A new rear wing and a number of new aero and mechanical parts should help the team keep moving closer to the midfield, and both drivers are looking forward to the challenges of the 5.338km track.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03): ‘The track in Turkey is good – turn eight is challenging but the rest of it is relatively simple, and definitely not as tricky as Monaco! I’m looking forward to getting out on track and having some better luck this weekend. My confidence in the car is growing all the time so I hope a bit of luck and the updates we’ve put on here will help me have a better race this weekend.’

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01): “It’s good to be back in Turkey, the weather is usually nice here and it seems the same this weekend. Turkey itself is really cool – Istanbul is a huge city with some great places to go. The harbour area is nice and it’s good to try and take some time and have a look around there in the evening – I’m staying on the Asian side this weekend, so I’m not sure I’ll get much time off, but it’s still good to be here.

“The track is great – it’s a big circuit and we get back to a normal open race course after Monaco. We’re fully prepared and I’m looking forward to practice tomorrow to see what the new wing gives us, and where we are after seeing such good pace in the car in Monaco.”

Dieter Gass, Sporting Director: “Looking back on the year so far I think we can be extremely satisfied with what we have achieved. We’ve completed all the targets we set out at the beginning of the season, and from the first time we started testing we have been reliable, which is a testament to the hard work put in by everyone in the team, and our partners. But now we are working on making the car quicker and improving the gap to the established teams – we are getting there, and this weekend, and at Silverstone, we’re looking to take more steps forward.

“Turkey is a track the drivers like as it presents a good challenge – some high and low speed corners, and the famous triple apex corner eight all test the balance of the car, and the aero performance. It’s always a challenge for the engineers and the drivers to set up the car so it’s going to be an interesting weekend here – we have very experienced people throughout the team, so I’m confident we’ll put on a good show. I wouldn’t say Istanbul Park either suits, or doesn’t suit our car, and I think we’ll be pretty much where we were in Barcelona, but with we are looking to take another step forward with the next batch of updates on the car.

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Director: “Looking back on Spain and Monaco we’ve taken a good step forward in those races and here in Turkey we’re looking to keep on improving and racing the cars in front, not those behind. We’ll be using our new pillar mounted rear wing here, and have some new parts which will enable us to optimise the weight distribution, so again, I’m quietly confident we’ll bridge the gap to those in front that little bit more.”

Lotus Racing has also confirmed it will be running the T127 at the Classic Team Lotus Festival at Snetterton on 20th June.

[press release from Lotus Racing]

May 22, 2010

LPL Motorsports and Tyler McQuarrie rejoin World Challenge in Mosport

On the heels of their first appearance – and first win – at the World Challenge Long Beach Grand Prix, Tyler McQuarrie will return to the seat of the No.19 LPL / Lotus Exige S at the Grand Prix of Mosport to contest rounds four and five of the 2010 World Challenge season.

McQuarrie had a sensational debut for himself, as well as the LPL Motorsports team and the Lotus Exige S with a dominating performance at last month’s Long Beach Grand Prix. McQuarrie, who is best known as a star in the Formula Drift Pro Championship where he drives a V8 powered Nissan 350z for the Falken Tire team, is excited to have another go in World Challenge.

“Long Beach was really a dream weekend,” said McQuarrie, a Pleasant Hill, Calif. resident. “We definitely had some challenges that we had to overcome, but the race was phenomenal and all credit should go to the LPL / DRS crew that didn’t sleep for weeks before the event to get the car ready.”

With the win, McQuarrie and the team got a big trophy, a reduction in boost, and weight added to their Lotus Exige S. In between his Formula Drift schedule, McQuarrie has been at the track with the LPL Motorsports team, getting the No. 19 Lotus Exige S dialed in to its new configuration. After a few days spent at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, McQuarrie is confident that the car and team are ready for the challenges of Mosport – a track that he is learning thanks to a computer simulator.

“The track seems like it will suit the Lotus very well, although we may have a disadvantage on the Andretti straightaway due to the changes to the car after Long Beach,” said McQuarrie. “We also know that we are racing against guys who have lots of data, lots of laps, and have won at Mosport. We are just going to give it the same effort that we did in Long Beach, and rely on the great handling of the Lotus Exige S to get us another win.”

The weekend kicks off with practice, qualifying, and round four on Saturday, with another qualifying session and round five on Sunday. Fans will be able to keep up with the McQuarrie and the LPL Motorsports team by following McQuarrie on Twitter, at twitter.com/tylermcquarrie (@tylermcquarrie).

LPL Motorsports is currently planning to continue with the World Challenge season and welcomes inquiries from drivers interested in partnering McQuarrie in a second Exige S.

[press release from LPL Motorsports]

May 16, 2010

Lotus Racing Monaco Grand Prix Report

Lotus Racing leave Monaco with mixed emotions after a very impressive display during the race came to an early end for both cars with only a few laps remaining. Despite this, the team demonstrated impressive pace throughout the race, making good on the promise shown in practice and qualifying, and will see the race as another step forward in experience and performance.

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01, retired lap 59) “It was a fantastic race right from the beginning. I had a bit of a struggle at the restarts to get the tyres up to temperature, but once I got everything working I was able to almost keep up with the Renault. I was pushing very hard, and the car felt fantastic – the balance was really good. Just before I retired I could feel the steering alignment was a bit uneven – on the right hand corners I had to use maximum lock, even in the tunnel, and it got the point where it didn’t feel safe anymore. In Monaco you can’t take a risk with it so I came in. It was a mechanical issue, but despite that I’m really pleased with today. We again showed we’re firmly the best of the new teams and we are nearly there with the next group, so I think we just need to keep attacking, and that’s how we’ll achieve results.”

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03: Classified 15th) “This wasn’t a great weekend for me. After we had a problem with the wheelgun in the pitstop I was stuck behind the HRTs and trying to find room to overtake – in the last lap Karun seemed slow through the second and third sector, and I’d seen he was leaving room at Rascasse, so I tried to get through but we touched and that was that – the end of the race. It was one of those things – a racing incident, but I still feel like we’re going in the right direction as a team, and I want to put the bad luck behind me when we get back on track in Turkey.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “This was our strongest performance yet compared to the midfield, so obviously mixed emotions for where we finished. Heikki had a very strong race and in the middle his performance was particularly good compared to the midfield group. It’s a shame we had a problem on his car – the steering joint failed, something we’ve not seen before – but overall it was a very positive weekend for him. For Jarno, he had a much more difficult weekend, clearly struggling with the balance of the car and I think as a team we have to take a look at everything to be able to do a better job for him. Obviously he was compromised by the slow pitstop, which dropped him down the field and affected his whole race. He was capable of going much faster and when he made the move he unfortunately fell victim to the nature of the Monaco circuit. So I leave feeling pleased we showed such good pace, and we move on to Turkey.”

Tony Fernandes: “I take a lot of positives from the race today and it was another one where we had at least one car classified. Most importantly Heikki made a great step forward and it was fantastic watching him race with Petrov. He and the whole team felt it was the best race of the season for him and that boosts confidence further for the season ahead. We’ve got some more new parts coming which will continue to take us forward, and hopefully Jarno’s luck will turn, but even with that we’re all pleased. It’s also great to see so many of our fans out around the track – hopefully we gave them some good racing today, and in years to come we’ll give them some good results as well.”

[press release from Lotus Racing]

May 12, 2010

Monaco Grand Prix Preview

It’s tight, it’s bumpy and it’s a major challenge for the drivers and the teams, but the Monaco Grand Prix is one of the world’s greatest sporting events, and Lotus Racing is confident of putting on a very good show at a venue where much of the Lotus history was created. Looking ahead to the weekend’s action are team drivers Jarno Trulli, a Monaco winner in 2004, and Heikki Kovalainen, with Team Manager Graham Watson giving insight into the logistical problems Monaco presents, Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne providing insights from the pitwall, and Team Principal Tony Fernandes discussing his first Monaco race at the head of an F1™ team.

Graham Watson: “The challenge really begins as soon as the Spanish Grand Prix finishes as we have to pack up everything there and then get it all over to Monaco in time to try and finish setting up by Tuesday night. We have some very experienced truckies and mechanics in the team, who know their way around the confines of the Monaco paddock, and that definitely helps us make sure we can meet all our engineering deadlines, and have the cars ready to go out on track on Thursday morning. We may be one of the new teams, and we definitely don’t have as much equipment yet as some of the more established names, but we’re still able to pack in everything we need to cope with any eventuality over the weekend, including a composite and fabrication workshop on site, which hopefully won’t be needed, but with the nature of Monaco in mind, are necessities here.”

Mike Gascoyne: “Monaco is obviously a unique place. I enjoy walking around as you realise what a mad place it is to race cars! Engineering wise it’s a major challenge – it’s very bumpy with lots of slow corners and qualifying is critical as it’s almost impossible to overtake, but I still love it! We should do ok here – we’re good in the slow speed sectors and both our guys are experienced in dealing with the bumps and the traffic, particularly Jarno whose win here was very special, so all in all I’m looking forward to it.”

Jarno Trulli: “It’s something very special in Monaco. Whether you’re driving or just walking around, you can almost breathe in how exciting it is. Every driver in the world wants to win here, and I was lucky enough to do so in ’04, but the whole experience can be tough – it’s important for us to concentrate on the race, and here you’re under so much pressure it can be difficult to get the time to think, and concentrate on the actual race, but that’s how it is, so we deal with it.

“Getting in a good lap is also a challenge, but if you can manage the traffic it’s very satisfying. One of the most important parts of the circuit is through the swimming pool – you change direction at high speed, then brake for the next chicane, which is slow but you still need to get through it quickly. You jump over the kerbs there, not too much or you launch yourself into the wall, but just enough to carry the speed through. That’s why concetration levels are important – get that right every time and you’re ok – if not, you’re out.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “I obviously didn’t get the chance in Barcelona to build on the step forward we took with the updates so I’m looking forward to getting back on track and pushing on. It’s so busy on track in Monaco there’s no time to relax, and there are no run off areas so you pay heavily for any little mistakes, but I really like street circuits as they reward good car control, and I think we’ll be pretty good here from how the car felt in Spain. I’ve managed to get a round of golf in with Tony since we left Barcelona, and it’s probably not fair to say how he got on… but generally it’ll be good to get out on track again and keep up the momentum we’ve had all year.”

Tony Fernandes: “I’ve been coming to Monaco ever since AirAsia first came into the sport as a sponsor, and it’s somewhere I love coming to. It’ll be great being here with Lotus Racing – pretty emotional as Lotus has so much history here. It’ll be a special moment for me and a huge amount of fans to see the green and yellow on track again, so I can’t wait for Thursday and to see the cars out there at what’s almost their third home race!”

[press release from Lotus Racing]

May 9, 2010

Moving Forward in Spain

After a very strong showing all weekend, race day in Barcelona saw Lotus Racing continue to move ahead, with Jarno Trulli finishing 17th and first of the new teams, whilst Heikki Kovalainen suffered a gearbox failure on the grid and had to be retired before the race had started. Despite the best efforts of his pit-crew Heikki was unable to join the race, but the team’s mood after the race was good, with Jarno achieving his first full race finish.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03: 17th, fastest lap 1.29.564): “I’m pleased we finished comfortably ahead of Virgin even though the car felt a bit difficult to drive today. I don’t really know why but it didn’t feel the same as it did on Friday – despite that we achieved what we set out to today, showed good race pace and finished well.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01: Retired): “We had a gearbox problem while we were firing up on the grid. The gearbox selected two gears at once – there was some sort of software issue which caused it to fail. It’s unfortunate, because we have had such a good weekend, but these things happen. Next up it’s Monaco, and I know we’ll be stronger again there, so we can focus on the next race and hope the luck returns.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It was a bit of a disappointing afternoon because we had a difficult race where we weren’t really able to show our true pace. We had a gearbox problem on the grid with Heikki, which was caused by a procedural issue, not a reliability problem. That’s frustrating as I think he would have had a strong race. Jarno made a great start, he had some contact going down into the first corner and throughout the race was struggling with the rear of the car. It was difficult for him in traffic, but he did a good job to bring the car home and get his first real race finish. Now we’ll just have to go to Monaco next week and show what we know we can do.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “It was a good day at the office today – disappointing for Heikki but on the positive side the reliability looks good and we had no hydraulic issues at all. We continue to have at least one car finish ahead of all the other new teams which has always been one of the goals and we learnt a lot again today. It’s a shame Heikki wasn’t there as it makes a big difference when we only have one car on track – both of them can help push us further ahead. We’re all now looking forward to Monte Carlo and Turkey where we’ll have all our upgrades together on both cars and build on the performance we put in during qualifying here.”

[press release from Lotus Racing]

May 8, 2010

Lotus Racing Barcelona Qualifying Report

Saturday’s Spanish Grand Prix qualifying session started with bright sunshine, and Lotus Racing enjoyed an excellent session, closing the gap to the midfield they’ve now set their sights on, and moving further away from the new teams they’ve led throughout the 2010 Championship. The team’s in their performance was reflected in the comments made by all the key team figures.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03: Qualified 19th, 1.24.674, 10 laps)

“A pretty good qualifying session today. The result itself hasn’t changed, but we have significantly reduced the gap to the cars in front. Yesterday I had better pace, so I’m not that happy with my performance today, but we now have a good gap to our direct competitors, and can start thinking about taking on those in front, which is thanks to the guys in the team. We still have a lot of work to do, and I think there’s even more to come from the car, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01: Qualified 20th, 1.24.748, 10 laps)

“I think it was a good session today and I’m happy. We achieved all the targets we set ourselves and we can see the gaps growing in the right direction – nearer those in front, and further away from the other new teams. We won’t have these kind of upgrades every weekend, but I think the car will get quicker and quicker and we’ll keep improving all the time. For the race tomorrow I think we can do well and I’m looking forward to being out there and seeing what we’re like on a long run.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It was an excellent session for the team today, and a very good job by both drivers. Jarno has been a bit less happy with the balance of his car today than in practice yesterday, but still put in a great performance, whereas Heikki felt the balance had improved. Overall, our times today show how the package we’ve brought to Barcelona has helped us move ahead, so we can all be very pleased. Now we’re all looking to close the gap to the teams ahead, and take the race to them.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “I’m really very happy. We’ve talked a lot about Barcelona, so turning that talk into results has been important and we have clearly made a big step forward. I think we’re about a second and a half away from the established teams, and obviously pulling away from the other new boys, so hopefully that speed, with consistent reliability, will see us able to challenge higher up the grid. It’s obviously good to see the results of the efforts that have been put in, and when you think where we’ve come from, about nine seconds off the pace when we first went out on track in testing in Jerez, it’s a huge accomplishment to the whole Lotus Racing team.

“It’s also great to see our profile continuing to rise across the world. We’ve launched our first range of merchandise here, and it’s good to see flags in the stands, and shirts in the crowd, so we’ll do our best to give the fans something to cheer for tomorrow.”

[press release from Lotus Racing]

May 6, 2010

Lotus Racing launches Merchandise Range

“I want to see a sea of green at every race, and wherever I go around the world.” These were the words of Tony Fernandes on the day Lotus Racing launched its brand new merchandising range. “It’s a challenge to every fan around the world, to show that it’s not just football teams and bands that inspire people to wear their clothing, it’s now time for Formula One™ fans to show what Lotus Racing means to them.”

Lotus Racing leads the way again as the first of the new teams to unveil its very cool range of clothes and accessories, available right now from http://shop.lotusracing.my and, starting at this weekend’s Barcelona Grand Prix, at racetracks around the world.

Among the items available in a range of sizes for men (with women and kids sizes available from mid-June), are:

* Team shirts and polo shirts – exact replicas of those worn by the race team around the world

* Heikki and Jarno tees

* Lotus Racing and 18 and 19 race number tees

* Polo shirts in the team’s already iconic green

And it’s not just about the clothes – a range of accessories is also out now, including lanyards, ear plugs, umbrellas and a team flag.

Prices start from £5.98 for the lanyard and go up to £69.98 for the team shirt, and wherever they are in the world, fans will be able to use a range of payment and delivery options to get their hands on whatever they want, with everything available in British Pounds, Euros, Dollars and Malaysian Ringgits.

Special offers and discounts will be introduced throughout the season, and from the British Grand Prix the expanded range will also include caps, a range of backpacks, more t-shirts for men, women and kids, drinks bottles, key holders, luggage tags and pens.

More information will follow…. Keep an eye on http://shop.lotusracing.my

[press release from Lotus Racing]

April 30, 2010

Lotus Racing Barcelona Preview

Two weeks is a short time in F1, but that’s how long Lotus Racing has had to fit in several months of hard work. Since China, the team has, in order, beaten the Icelandic ash cloud, unpacked and repacked 34 tonnes of freight, run an intensive series of tests on Chassis T127-02, fitted an entire upgrade package to the race cars, taken delivery of its newly painted race trailers (in a matching colour scheme to the race cars) and flown the race team back to Barcelona.

Mike Gascoyne “Now the first four flyaway races are behind us and we’re into the European season. All the teams will have upgrades for Barcelona, but we’re hoping that ours is even more significant than our rivals because we received our entry so late and had to freeze the initial specification of the car very early in the design process. We do expect it to be reasonably significant – we have an aero package with revised sidepods, front wings and brake ducts, and a number of mechanical changes, but obviously we’ll have to wait and see what step forward our rivals will also make. Straight after Barcelona we go to Monaco which is a totally different challenge. It’s a unique place in terms of its configuration. Everyone runs maximum downforce and obviously it’s a very tight, bumpy street circuit, but the experience our two drivers bring, combined with the progress we’ve made at the factory and on track, gives me confidence we’ll put in a good showing at both races.”

Returning to the Lotus Racing factory in Hingham, Mike has seen a transformation in the team’s UK base. “It’s very gratifying to see the whole factory in full operation, with every department now nearly fully staffed but starting to work to their full potential. This means we can now look at more long-term development and R&D programmes, and start thinking about future cars. We’re through the hardest part of the team’s growth and we’re on a very good footing for the future.”

Heikki Kovalainen is now looking forward to the start of the European season having returned from China with the team on AirAsia: “I spent two nights at home in Switzerland then flew to Finland to see my family for the first time since Christmas. I’ve been doing various bits of work with my Finnish partners, relaxing a little and of course training like usual. I had some new golf clubs fitted by Nike Finland and have been practicing with them too, so my golf’s definitely improving.”

Looking ahead to the forthcoming races themselves he said: “It’s always good to get to Barcelona as it’s where most of the teams bring their first big updates. It’s a very fast track and all the teams spend a lot of time there in pre-season, so we know it very well, but it’s the complete opposite to racing in Monte Carlo. In Barcelona there are more chances to overtake but nowhere else has the same glamour or prestige as Monaco. It’s so busy there on track there’s no time to relax, and there are no run off areas so you pay heavily for any mistakes. I really like street circuits – you are rewarded for good car control so I’m looking forward to getting on track and seeing what steps forward we’ve taken with the updates.”

Jarno Trulli is also excited about returning to Spain, and Monaco, the circuit where he wrote himself into the history books by winning in 2004. “I made it back home from China with a number of the other drivers, but we got back safely and I’ve been home with my family since then. I’ve managed to fit in a number of good training sessions, and am looking forward to getting back in the car. I think I’ve had a fair bit of bad luck so far, but I’m looking to put that behind me and see how much further forward we can go with the updates. I’ve kept in close touch with the team about the tests they’ve put the car through, and am encouraged by the results they’ve had. I think we’ll take a good step forward in Spain.

“I like Barcelona – we all know every bit of it very well as we test there a lot, and have raced there for years. Monaco is obviously a very special place for me – a lot of my fans will be out in force, and I love going back to where I’ve won, so that’ll be a busy, but good week.”

Team Principal Tony Fernandes has been thinking about how the team has established itself, both on track and in the hearts and minds of F1 fans: “We’re back in Europe and I couldn’t be more pleased with the position we arrive in. The first phase of Lotus Racing’s life is now behind us, and the next challenge starts here. We’ve proved all the doubters wrong, and have shown that the hard work everyone in the team puts is making the dream we share come true. I remember the immense pride I had when I first saw the cars run in the pre-season tests in Spain, and in Barcelona we’re back, ahead of the other new teams and with a new package that will help us push on closer to the next goal, which is to take on the midfield. Ultimately it’s about taking Lotus Racing to the front of the grid and this marks the next step in that journey.

“On a personal level I’ve always loved coming to Spain, and with Monaco straight afterwards I’m very excited about seeing how our fanbase is growing into the traditional heartland of Formula One™. We’ve broken new ground in Australia, Asia and China and now we’re back at the scene of some of the most famous moments in the Lotus history.”

[press release from Lotus Racing]