Lotus revealed their solution to the new Formula 1 regulations’ controversial nose design with an two-pronged approach with the E22.
Although the team has already announced that it will not run its new E22 until the second pre-season F1 test in Bahrain, it issued two computer-generated image of the new car via its Twitter feed.
These pictures show off the the solution to the nose design, which features a split creating two downward-sloping points.
Front end aesthetics have been a huge talking point in Formula 1 over the winter, with the 2014 rules mandating lower front ends but a loophole allowing teams to meet this demand with very narrow protusions.
The Enstone-based team has taken an alternative route to McLaren and Williams, the other two teams to have shown the front end of their 2014 designs so far, both of which have gone for central ‘finger’ sections.
The Lotus image was released at the same time as McLaren held an online launch for its 2014 car.
Earlier on Friday Lotus announced that its team boss Eric Boullier had left, with the Frenchman now expected to head to McLaren.
Lotus will field Romain Grosjean and ex-Williams driver Pastor Maldonado this season, the Venezuelan replacing Ferrari-bound Kimi Raikkonen.
The nose design is certainly unique on the Lotus E22. Here’s Autosport.com technical viewpoint on the team’s approach to the controversial nose design.
The look of the nose of 2014’s Formula 1 cars has already been a major talking point, but Lotus caused a fresh stir by releasing a rendering of its new E22, which features a very different philosophy.
AUTOSPORT has learned that the aggressive ‘twin tusk’ arrangement caused problems for the team in completing crash testing.
But this hurdle has been overcome and Lotus will be ready to go in time for the second pre-season test in Bahrain.
The rules mandating a single nose tip, to be mounted far lower than previously and with a minimum cross section, were introduced for safety reasons.
The other cars that have so far been revealed have featured the ‘anteater’ nose, which forms the nose tip with a finger-like extension.
Lotus’s twin tusk arrangement eschews this philosophy and stretches the wording of the rules to the limit.
In order to meet the single lower nose tip regulation, the two tusks are of unequal length, so the longer one forms the mandatory nose tip, while the other is short enough to avoid being considered part of the nose tip by the regulations.
This leaves each tusk to act as a crash structure, the front wing mounting pylon and then, as they slim narrow the rear of the car, also become turning vanes.
This means the unavoidable obstruction of the mandatory nose tip is made into a multi-purpose device.
The design may present slightly more total cross sectional area to the airflow, but places the obstruction in the most beneficial location.
Missing out on the first official pre-season test will hurt admits Renault’s deputy managing director Rob White. Autosport.com has the story.
Lotus will inevitably fall behind as a consequence of missing the first Formula 1 test of the 2014 season, according to Renault’s deputy managing director Rob White.
Lotus looks set to be the only team that will be absent from the Jerez test next week, having announced earlier this month that attending it was “not ideal” for its build and development programme.
The team was sure others would miss the test, but all its rivals have confirmed they will be at Jerez.
Lotus has suggested that its programme would not be hurt much because Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Caterham also use the Renault engine.
While White concedes there is data that can be shared with Lotus to make up for missing the test, he believes the team will lose valuable time needed to adapt the engine to the chassis.
“The fundamental power unit is identical, but each installation is unique,” said White.
“The objectives for the first test are to fully validate the power unit in its environment. It is the first time that you can bring the whole thing together and turn it on – you haven’t got the chassis combined at the factory.
“We do a great deal to simulate as much as we can, but ahead of the fire-up we haven’t ever brought together every single piece of sub-system and system in the exact configuration that it will be, in that car.
“So the stuff that is, if you like, shareable and shared between the teams is the stuff that pertains direct to the power unit, not the stuff that pertains to its particular environment.
“Clearly anybody that isn’t able to run at Jerez will be a little bit behind and that includes the power unit side of the equation.”
F1 teams will have just 12 days of testing before the season kicks off in Australia on March 16.
White admits that, given the big regulation changes coming into play this year, the formbook could fluctuate a lot during the first races of the season.
“At the beginning there will be a rapidly shifting situation,” he said.
“I don’t think it will be possible to evaluate performance in a week’s time, at the end of the Jerez test, and certainly the season needs time to settle down.
“There is a lot of uncertainty about what the outcome will be. It will be about checking out where the performance of the car lies relative to the design assumptions being made.”
And yet the biggest new story is team boss Eric Boullier resigning from Lotus. He is expected to join McLaren. News story taken from Autosport.com.
Eric Boullier is set to become McLaren’s new Formula 1 team principal after quitting the Lotus team.
Following intense speculation about plans for McLaren following Ron Dennis’s review of the organisation, Boullier has resigned from his position as Lotus F1 team principal with immediate effect.
The Frenchman, who has done an impressive job at Lotus despite financial constraints, is now favourite to land the job at McLaren.
Lotus has confirmed that its owner Gerard Lopez will be its new team principal for 2014, and will share responsibility for running the outfit with co-chairman Andrew Ruhan.
Although the loss of Boullier will be a blow to Lotus, the Enstone-based outfit remains hopeful that it has a strong commercial and managerial platform going forwards.
Lopez said: “Lotus F1 Team has never stood still and we head into what promises to be an exciting 2014 season with an innovative new car, new partners and a new management structure at Enstone.
“Great things have been achieved over the past years and we need to continue this momentum.
“We thank Eric for all his hard work over the past four years and we are confident we can continue to fight as one of the top teams in Formula 1 over the seasons ahead.”
Lotus is missing next week’s first pre-season F1 test, but plans to unveil its new E22 car at the start of the second test in Bahrain.