Desperate Lotus seek permission for private test
23 February, 2012
Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean
Feb.23 (GMM) Embattled Lotus will ask its Formula 1 rivals for permission to conduct a three-day private test after it has resolved a chassis flaw.
The former Renault team pulled out of this week’s Barcelona test after the unspecified problem was identified early during the opening day’s running on Tuesday.
With pre-season preparations limited to just three tests in 2012, next week’s Barcelona running will be the last before the championship begins in Australia.
F1 race commentator Oskari Saari, working for the Finnish broadcaster MTV3, said Lotus has confirmed to him that it will seek permission to make up for this week’s lost running in the form of a three-day private test.
“As they are based in Britain, then you would think that it would be at Silverstone,” he said.
Recently at Jerez, Mercedes departed the opening pre-season test a day early and then made up for it with a private day of running at Barcelona on Sunday.
But Saari admitted it is possible the other teams will not be keen to allow Lotus to modify its programme, given the pace of the new E20 car at Jerez.
“However, I would imagine it is quite likely that the request will go through,” he said.
“Every now and then, every team sometimes needs a helping hand from the others.”
The mishap has seriously curtailed testing time for their drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, who are both returning to F1 after a couple of years out of action in the top tier of the sport.
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I think it would be a pretty expensive bluff that would cost a lot of track time for Lotus. The fact that the problem surfaced at Barcelona and not Jerez may have to have something to with the different nature of the track and the effects on the cars. With higher aero loads present at Barcelona this might have uncovered the problem with the chassis. These are new cars and this is pre-season testing where teething problems are ironed out
But everything is speculation at this point
wow, seems Lotus may actually be in desperate trouble with their chassis, what makes me confused is if it was such a large flaw in the design of the chassis, how did it not come up in the first test or any of the simulator work done on the car?
This makes me suspicious that Renault are just trying to bluff everyone perhaps?