Romain Grosjean: “I’m ready to lead the way”
Romain heads into his third season as race driver for Lotus F1 Team with the confidence and experience to lead the team to greater things.
New season, new rules and new cars; how much of a challenge do you see the coming months to be?
New season, new car, news rules – everything it pretty new and our challenge is pretty big. It’s very exciting though! We don’t know exactly what’s going on and where people are, it’s the same every year when we start the season, but it’s particularly the case right now with all the changes and new rules. The changing of engines, the changing of aerodynamics, more electrical help in the car, so yes some tough work for the engineers and drivers to understand and get on top of everything as quick as we can and hopefully faster than the others.
You are going into your third season as race driver for the team; will the continuity enable you to continue to learn and grow as a driver?
I think continuity will be important this year with all the rule changes, and it’s my third year at Enstone so it feels like home. I like the team and I think we do a very good job together so I’m happy to keep going, and I’m happy that we’re together for this challenge. We have a common aim for the future and we want to win races and win Championships. We’ll work as hard as we did to achieve even more than last year. I am ready to lead the way with this challenge.
You’ve been on the podium 9 times so far. Is that first win within reach?
I don’t know when it will come, I’ve come close a few times and nine podiums with the team is a good record. We just need to keep doing our best, keep trying to optimise everything we can from the first day we have on a race track to the Sunday and to get a good car. I trust the people here to try to give me all the tools we need to achieve that win - it’s a good car, a good engine, we have good strategy, we have good engineers and mechanics, and a good driver. So I’m looking forward to try and will go for it, and the day it comes, we’ll have a big party!
What do you think of the E22 and the design team which has created it?
I like the colour of the car, it’s nice. I think with the rule change it’s very interesting to see how people have understood it, and the direction people have taken. Our guys have been pretty clever with it; I really like the idea of trying something different, and we’ll just need to see when we get to Melbourne where we are. But I really like the car, and if it’s a winning car then I will love it!
What are your targets and objectives for 2014?
Targets and objectives are always the same when you start a new season – trying to win the title. It sounds optimistic sometimes, but I think we are all here to try and win races; the team in Enstone, the team on the racetrack and myself, so we’ll do everything we can, do our best, and see if it’s good enough!
Why the number 8?
Simply I like this number, plus it has some significance to me. My wife was born the 8th of December, we started dating in 2008 and, to my eyes my son is the 8th wonder of the world. That’s why I picked up number 8.
Pastor Maldonado: “I feel really good here”
After three seasons in Formula 1, Pastor Maldonado comes to Lotus F1 Team with the objective of being one of the best and fighting for wins.
How excited are you about kicking off the new season with Lotus F1 Team?
It’s great to start the season with Lotus F1 Team. For me it’s something very special, and it’s part of the big transition of progressing in Formula 1. After three years in one team, it will now be my fourth season at a higher level, and I’m very happy to part of this fantastic team. Lotus F1 Team have been very successful in the past, been competitive on track and have won a lot of races. We’re working very hard to again be one of the best and fighting for wins.
You have 58 Grands Prix starts under your belt; what experience can you bring to the team?
I’ve been learning a lot, especially in the first two years. I don’t count last year as it was so difficult, but even in the difficult times you can learn a lot and I’ve used all of that as an experience and I feel ready to get back to the top. In the past I’ve been quite good in my last team, and maybe here I will get extra power to be more consistent and I think together we can make a very strong team.
You already know Romain Grosjean, are you looking forward to working together?
I know Romain from some years ago, he’s a good guy. He’s a great driver and we’ve competed in the lower categories together. We’ve both always been at the top so I’m really looking forward to working with him. I think we are both real fighters on track, so I hope we can both do our best for the team.
How different do you expect the racing will be with such big regulation changes?
The difference we see from last year to 2014 is huge, and it will have a huge influence in terms of racing, and racing style. I think the drivers, together with the team, must work a lot to adapt to this new style of racing. We’ve been working in the simulator for a while and I feel optimistic. Let’s go for it!
What do you think of the E22?
The E22 is just amazing, I think it’s the most revolutionary car in the paddock. The car looks great, it’s a combination between the new technology and many other new ideas. It’s pretty special to see the nose like that – I’ve never seen something like that in the past! It’s something completely new for Formula 1, and we’re fully confident with this solution. I can’t wait to be in the car and try it out on track.
What are your targets and objectives for 2014?
The season ahead is really a big question mark. We need to start with great expectations, we need to do our best from the beginning. For sure it will be quite hard, for all the teams and all the drivers, with the new regulations but we’re really looking forward to fight for the best, and to fight for the Championship.
Why the number 13?
The reason I choose the number 13 is just because I like it. In Venezuela it is not an unlucky number and it actually has a long history in Venezuelan sport.
Ahead of the 2014 season, new team CEO Matthew Carter and Technical Director Nick Chester talk through the challenges faced, the current status, and stability of the team.
Matthew Carter: “We’re confident we have a strong and stable base for the future.”
Enstone’s new CEO, Matthew Carter, gives his take on the state of play for Lotus F1 Team heading into the 2014 season.
How would you describe the 2014 specification Lotus F1 Team?
I think it’s no secret to say that last year, while very positive on the track, was challenging off the track. This year, 2014, we’re looking to be as successful away from the track as we are on it. With that in mind, we have a new financial stability which will allow us to go forwards, develop the car and hopefully enable us to be challenging right at the front of the grid.
What are the main challenges for Enstone for this year and years ahead?
The challenges that we face this year are ensuring that we can continue to develop the car during the season. We’re very confident that we have a strong car to start the season with and the challenges are making sure that we’re on top of the development programme to ensure the car remains competitive throughout theyear. Beyond this, we have to adapt to all the challenges that Formula 1 teams face both on track, in the factory and in a commercial sense. We’re confident that we have a strong and stable base for the future.
How can you best harness the strengths and qualities seen at Enstone?
The team at Enstone has an immense amount of qualities and strengths; the DNA that is coursing through the veins of everyone who works at Enstone is fantastic. The team that we have technically and in terms of development is second to none and I believe that the investments we’ve made in the factory and our technology will ensure that we’re right at the front of the grid this season. To harness this best you need a secure financial footing which is something we recognise fully and have focused on during the off-season. We are well-placed for the season ahead and beyond this year too.
How big an impact for the team has it been developing the 2014 car with such a radical change to the regulations?
The 2014 car is an immense change from what we’ve seen before. We’ve been working towards this car for well over two years and a large section of our workforce have been working on it. The new regulations represent a clean sheet of paper for the whole grid, and hopefully it represents an opportunity for us to challenge right at the front.
Nick Chester: “We are confident we have an elegant solution”
Lotus F1 Team Technical Director Nick Chester looks to the season ahead
How would you describe the E22?
I would say that it’s an elegant solution for the 2014 regulations. These regulations are a big challenge meaning we had to create a car very different from designs we’ve created before. Despite all these new challenges, we’re very happy with our interpretation and the car we’ve created.
What about the nose – is that a two fingered approach to the regulations?
The nose certainly is quite interesting! It has generated a lot of talk. We think it’s a nice solution and it’s quite innovative. Naturally, as with any interpretation of new regulations, we’ve talked with the FIA to ensure that they are happy with the design. It’s nice to have something a little bit different and we’re happy with our path having seen what everyone else is doing with their cars in this area.
What were the main challenges in packaging the new Power Units with all the energy recovery magic within?
The new Power Units incorporate waste heat and braking energy recovery systems and these form a much bigger percentage of the complete package than before. There is a bigger energy store to package, a lot more electrical cabling and the cooling requirements are much greater than we’ve seen in previous years. The systems are much more complicated. Trying to create an elegant package for the power unit and cooling systems has been difficult, but we’re very happy of the progress we made in this area.
How much of the E22 is new and are there elements which can be carried across from previous cars despite such big regulations changes?
The E22 is completely new. There’s very little which could be carried across from previous cars. That said, in certain areas we’ve been able to follow the same philosophies such as in our approach to aerodynamics and suspension, where lessons learnt with previous cars have been highly relevant.
Where do some of the big differences with this year’s cars lie?
It’s possibly easier to ask what the similarities are. Even things like the front wing – which may look quite similar to the untrained eye – has to follow a new approach and philosophy as the regulations stipulate a new width, and this actually has a big impact on air flow management due to the relationship of the wing to the front track and where the tyres sit in the resultant air flow.
If you put the E21 next to the E22 and stripped off the bodywork you’d see a lot of major differences. For example, the radiators on the E21 are significantly smaller than those on the E22 due to the far greater cooling requirements this year.
The engine of the E22 – being a 1.6 litre V6 – is a lot smaller than the 2.4 litre V8s we’ve used most recently, but the latest gearboxes are larger than those we’ve seen before. Certainly, the energy recovery, storage and deployment systems, and all the electronics related to these mean the internal architecture of the E22 is every different from that of the E21.
These factors, as well as countless others, meant that we have spent a tremendous amount of time working on the E22 and I’m confident that we’ve followed a good path in this development.
How will the racing look this year?
The racing in 2014 is going to be very interesting! We’re all expecting surprises and it’s difficult to forecast exactly who’s going to be where on the grid at the start of a race weekend and particularly difficult to forecast the order at the end of one. The challenges we all face with these new regulations, such as only having 100kg of fuel means the energy management through a race will be an area of tremendous focus. It’s going to be quite exciting.
How big a concern is reliability?
It’s a big concern for all teams as everything is so new and different from the cars we’ve used before. We’ve seen from initial testing that some cars were able to get a good number of laps under their belt very quickly and others were not. Every team will learn a lot in the first races and we all expect the unexpected! I don’t think any team will have as good a finishing record as in previous seasons as the last generation of cars were so well developed and their reliability was so strong. Our challenge is to get the 2014 cars to be as reliable as their forebears despite all the new technology included. That would be a tremendous achievement for Formula 1.
With such new and different regulations can we expect a different rate of development for the 2014 cars through the season?
We’re all still getting used to the new regulations so I expect there will be a much higher rate of development through the season as we learn more about these cars. This will probably mean that the competitive order shuffles somewhat over the course of the year as different teams unlock the potential of their cars at different rates.
Looking at other teams’ offerings – how confident are you that the E22 offers a good solution?
There are some nice solutions out there. Already Mercedes and Red Bull have interesting aspects to their cars, but looking at the E22 after seeing everyone else’s interpretations, we’re still very pleased with the direction we’ve taken and the hard work of everyone at Enstone really has created an elegant car. It’s going to be very interesting to see all the cars running together and fascinating to watch the first races unfold.
