Lotus F1 Team became the first outfit to unveil their 2013 race car for the upcoming Formula 1 season.
The E21 was revealed to the public via a live video broadcast on the team’s official YouTube channel, with an estimated 12,000+ viewers keenly excited to see the new car.
It must be said that the new E21 looks very similar to last year’s car, it even has the stepped nose! Although a splash of red indicating the new sponsors against the black and gold livery works quite well in my opinion.
Technical director James Allison said that while the E21 looked outwardly similar to its predecessor, it had undergone plenty of changes.
“There is a lot gone into it and it is going to be an exciting car,” he said. “The rules for 2013 are very, very similar to 2012 so you can expect a lot of family resemblance from the 2012 car, but the devil is in the detail and it adds up to a significant amount of performance.
“There are lots of new ideas and same concepts we have been pushing on with for a few years.”
Team principal Eric Boullier hopes the E21 will bring success in this season’s campaign with the squad aiming a target in finishing the constructors’ championship in the top three.
Lotus have retained the 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for this season’s world championship and the pair will start their second year as team-mates.
Also unchanged is the team’s engine supplier Renault. This is the second car produced by the team since become the works Lotus outfit in 2012.
The E21 chassis name signifies the outfit’s twenty-first car produced by the Enstone team after racing in four different identities over the last couple of decades: Toleman, Benetton, Renault and Lotus.
It’s going to be fascinating to see how well the new Lotus E21 goes in pre-season testing in Spain. Will we see another race victory for Kimi Raikkonen after winning in Abu Dhabi last year?
As for Romain Grosjean, he has been given a second opportunity in Formula One despite his countless first-lap crashing including that massive startline pile-up at Spa-Francorchamps that earned him a race ban.
Close-up on the new Lotus E21 video:
Follow the Lotus F1 Team Twitter account here:
https://twitter.com/Lotus_F1Team
And the team’s official YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/lrgptv
Official E21 car pictures courtesy from F1 Fanatic:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/01/28/lotus-e21-launch-pictures/
News articles on the Lotus launch:
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/1/14214.html
http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12473/8451129/Lotus-become-first-F1-team-to-launch-a-2013-car-their-E21-at-Enstone-factory
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/lotus-e21-launched/
Kimi Raikkonen believes there is no reason why the current Lotus team line-up cannot repeat the Formula 1 title glory the squad achieved as Benetton and Renault.
The Enstone team’s Abu Dhabi victory with Raikkonen last year was the first since it won the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix under the Renault banner with Fernando Alonso. It launched its 2013 car in an online event on Monday night.
Raikkonen said the outfit’s title-winning pedigree was clearly evident as he settled in with Lotus last year.
“It’s clear from working with them that they are racers, and you can see in their history that they’ve won championships,” he said.
“Nothing I saw last year made me think that another championship was impossible in the future.
“Of course, there is some pretty tough competition out there and everyone wants to win.
“The team have beaten everyone before and there’s nothing to say they can’t do it again.”
Raikkonen’s team-mate Romain Grosjean is certain he can drove his critics wrong and put his 2012 calamities behind him in his second full F1 season.
The Frenchman has been kept on for 2013 despite a series of first-lap incidents last year, including the dramatic Belgian Grand Prix crash that resulted in him being banned from the Italian round.
“I think everyone is waiting to see if I’m able to be consistent, which is where I was lacking a little bit last year,” Grosjean admitted as Lotus launched its new E21.
“I know it and I’ll do everything I can to prove to people that I’m able to achieve this goal.”
Grosjean said he wanted to get to the end of 2013 knowing he had not squandered any chances.
“I really want to jump out of the car as many times as possible thinking that I did a good job,” he explained.
“Knowing that everything I could do, I did, and feeling proud of my race or session.
“I hope to feel that way as many times as possible this year.”
Source: Autosport.com
The new E21 will feature the passive double DRS that was initially tried out last season. Autosport.com has the news story.
Lotus will run the passive DRS system that it trialled last season on the newly-launched E31.
The Enstone team tried the design for the first time in free practice for last year’s German Grand Prix but despite further tests in subsequent races never raced it.
This year, systems based on exposing holes in the rear wing endplates when the DRS is deployed are outlawed, but passive versions, which rely on the car hitting a certain speed to divert airflow to stall the rear wing, are still permissible.
Despite Lotus struggling to set the ‘aero switch’ up to deactivate at the same speed at which it activates, technical director James Allison is confident that the concept will earn its place on the car during pre-season testing. It was not present on the launch car.
“This is an area we continue to work on and the passive nature of the switching of our device means it is not outlawed by the latest regulations,” said technical director James Allison.
“It is not something which will be a silver bullet to transform our car, but it is something which could add performance as part of the overall design.”
Allison also confirmed that the team has no plans to run the optional ‘vanity panel’ which has been introduced this year to allow teams to cover up the step in the nose.
As this part has no performance advantage and adds weight, he believes there is no benefit in fitting it.
“There is one rule which opens the possibility for a change as we will now be permitted to fit a non-structural ‘vanity panel’ on the upper surface of the nose as a means of avoiding the duck-bill style designs that we saw in 2012.
“However, such a panel will add a few grammes of weight and so is only likely to run on the car if a team can find a performance benefit for doing so.”
GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi has been appointed as Lotus’s third driver for the 2013 Formula 1 season.
The Italian, who impressed the team during his outing in last year’s young driver test in Abu Dhabi, is set to attend all of the races in 2013 in his new role and is first in line to stand in for either of the regular drivers should they become unavailable during a race weekend.
His predecessor, Jerome d’Ambrosio, remains on the team’s books as reserve driver.
“I’m really happy that the team want me to be with them and I’m excited about the future,” said Valsecchi. “I hope that this is a really good start to a career in F1.
“My last year in GP2 in 2012 was something I really focused on and in the end I succeeded. Now, in Formula 1, my target will be a little different but my focus to do the very best job is still the same.”
Valsecchi has previously tested for HRT in 2010 and Caterham, which was then still running under the Lotus name, a year later.
Although Lotus has no plans to run him during the 12 days of pre-season testing, which will be shared between race drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, Valsecchi is confident that his new role is a big step towards an F1 race seat in the future.
“I very much hope, step by step, to get into Formula 1 as a race driver and being here as third driver is as near as you can get,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity here; if I do the best job I can this year then it will open up my chances for the future and we’ll see if I’m good enough.”
D’Ambrosio still in the mix
D’Ambrosio, who stood in for the banned Grosjean in last year’s Italian Grand Prix, is expected to focus on factory-based work in the simulator. He will largely work on the 2014 car and is not scheduled to attend all of the races.
However, he will also remain an option for the team should one of its drivers not be able to race even though Valsecchi is first in line.
“I learned from last year that you need to be ready in order to step straight into a race seat, so my aim will be to keep focused and be prepared,” said d’Ambrosio.
“Of course my ultimate aim is always to gain a race seat, however I know that by doing the best job I can here – and proving myself valuable to the team – I’m in a very good position should an opportunity arise.”
Nicolas Prost also remains on the Lotus roster as a development driver.
Source: Autosport.com
The 2007 world champion is keen to prolong his comeback in Formula One, with Raikkonen competing in his second season with Lotus. Autosport.com has the details.
Kimi Raikkonen sees no reason why he will not continue his Formula 1 return into the 2014 season.
The Finn’s comeback deal with Lotus was initially a two-year contract, expiring at the end of 2013.
Speaking as Lotus launched its new E21 chassis, Raikkonen said he had not given much thought to the future, but was sure he would stay on if he continued to enjoy F1.
“I’m not really thinking beyond this season at the moment, but I’m sure there will be talk before the end of the year,” he said.
“I enjoyed my comeback to Formula 1 last year and there’s no reason to say I shouldn’t enjoy the 2013 season too.
“I know there will be big changes to the cars and regulations for 2014, so who’s to say that won’t be exciting.”
Raikkonen initially walked away from the sport when he left Ferrari at the end of 2009.
He switched to the World Rally Championship with Citroen, but struggled for consistent form. Despite forays into the NASCAR Truck Series and a test in Peugeot’s Le Mans contender, he ultimately returned to F1 with Lotus.