Lotus F1 Team 2014

[Manoah2u]

So what happened to TOTAL?!?!?! i thought i remembered a 'deal' has been worked out with PDVSA and Total, yet, i see ZERO total on the teaser??!?! Did that mean total is exit??????

Anyhoo. Does the deal with Saxo Bank mean that Mclaren is safe with Sony, or are they still in the running to secure a
sony sponsorship deal?

Could...of all people....Brawn step into Lotus?

[hollus]

On December 19th, 2013: (Opps, the date makes this off-topic).
As rumours the Frenchman is fleeing the financially troubled Enstone based team flourished on the internet, Boullier took to his personal Twitter account to issue a short denial.

"It's not just that I had to defend myself to the outside, I had to get together my people in the factory and tell them that there's nothing to it. Rumours spread quickly in a racing car factory."
...
"But they should know that I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere"

[Gridlock]

The 50SOG reference is funny on another level, if you believe some of the stories about just who exactly [censored for legal reasons]

[Jonnycraig]

So what happened to TOTAL?!?!?! i thought i remembered a 'deal' has been worked out with PDVSA and Total, yet, i see ZERO total on the teaser??!?! Did that mean total is exit??????

James Allen stated before Xmas that it's believed Total will be focusing on Red Bull from now on.

[Manoah2u]

So what happened to TOTAL?!?!?! i thought i remembered a 'deal' has been worked out with PDVSA and Total, yet, i see ZERO total on the teaser??!?! Did that mean total is exit??????

James Allen stated before Xmas that it's believed Total will be focusing on Red Bull from now on.

Thanks, missed out on that one.

[Manoah2u]

http://www.f1-fansite.com/f1-news/lotus ... whitmarsh/

Deposed McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh could switch to Lotus for 2014, an insider has confirmed.

Lotus’ former chief, Eric Boullier, is the hot favourite to replace Whitmarsh at Woking, even though McLaren is not ready to confirm it.

“New car but no boss”, read the headline at the weekend by the Spanish newspaper Diario Sport.

A team spokesman was quoted by Germany’s Die Welt: “We are not talking at the moment about our management leadership.”

On the other hand, Lotus’ team owner Gerard Lopez has said he is replacing Boullier, bu

t some have questioned Lopez’s commitment to F1.

For instance, the Luxembourger was spotted in the paddock only a handful of times in 2013.

“Without going into detail,” Lopez told France’s RMC, “I had very serious health problems (last year).

“I’m not one to talk about my privacy, but I found it a bit hurtful to hear that my lack of presence was because I have no interest in F1 when in reality I was in a hospital bed.

“But this is the world of F1, where we do not seek to understand, we judge,” he added.

Nonetheless, speculation Whitmarsh is a leading candidate to be Lotus’ longer term team boss is now rife.

“There has been contact with Martin,” an insider with close links to Lotus told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.

“He is not necessarily the only name they have approached. There are perhaps three but he might be the most appealing of them, given his experience at McLaren.”

Whitmarsh to Lotus???

[Neno]

This sure wouldn't be bad news for Lotus, instead it should be pretty good one if it's true. I personally think Whitmarsh should be better lead then Boullier or atleast the same, and a hell of a lot better then someone unexperienced as Lopez in that position. He worked in Mclaren, good and organized team, and yes Mclaren suffered and had last bad year, but it wasn't everything his fault. This team needs some names to bring experience, stability, autority in this moment and possible bright future. And i dont see anyone left in Enstone today.

[Manoah2u]

And suddenly, lotus missing out on the Jerez test isn't so bad at all!

if you look at how much the renault-engined teams are struggling due the engine problems,
then lotus isn't in such a bad position as thought of before......

quite honestly, it's almost as if they knew trouble would occur. They surely aren't missing much - and
they'll benefit from engine information from renault feedback.

i believe they have a contract, but - in the extremest form; could lotus perhaps go for a totally different
engine? could they even go for a mercedes engine last-minute? if they anticipated this, or perhaps were
waiting for conformation because possibily they will, could they step to a merc engine? Brawn did it with honda?

Whitmarsh going to Lotus surely will feed this thought!

[AnthonyG]

Could they have spotted the problem in advance on one of their testbeds?
(Yet, that wouldn't make sense if they didn't report it to Renault)

[Manoah2u]

Could they have spotted the problem in advance on one of their testbeds?
(Yet, that wouldn't make sense if they didn't report it to Renault)

they have a strong tie with renault being their former f1 team so i'm sure there are some people that have connections.
redbull's story bout a spring mounted wrong and not going all day then having these troubles seems to indicate they're not telling the full truth and might be in the know, too.

and yes, i'm feeling like the enstone team knew more. bouilliers words now start to make more sense;
perhaps they didn't expect redbull or caterham to be there because of these renault issues.
i think renault demanded they'll go there anyway to save their image......

really starting to think this renault issue is way bigger then suspected.


i'm really starting to think lotus might end up with a merc powerplant.

[BoBee]

Could they have spotted the problem in advance on one of their testbeds?
(Yet, that wouldn't make sense if they didn't report it to Renault)

they have a strong tie with renault being their former f1 team so i'm sure there are some people that have connections.
redbull's story bout a spring mounted wrong and not going all day then having these troubles seems to indicate they're not telling the full truth and might be in the know, too.

and yes, i'm feeling like the enstone team knew more. bouilliers words now start to make more sense;
perhaps they didn't expect redbull or caterham to be there because of these renault issues.
i think renault demanded they'll go there anyway to save their image......

really starting to think this renault issue is way bigger then suspected.


i'm really starting to think lotus might end up with a merc powerplant.

Its a bit too late in my opinion...

[skoop]

would that even be possible design wise? i guess the mounting points would be completly different

[acosmichippo]

redbull's story bout a spring mounted wrong and not going all day then having these troubles seems to indicate they're not telling the full truth and might be in the know, too.

that doesn't make sense to me. why would red bull make themselves look stupid by installing a spring upside down if it was renault's engine issue the whole time? it's not like it was a secret to keep, renault has even admitted there's an issue themselves.

[Manoah2u]

surely you can't believe the wrongly mounted spring story at all? a whole day? seriously? red bull? 4-time champions in a row?
no way. mounting it wrong? possibly. taking all day? hell no.

and guess what, the day after, there are renault engine problems.
and caterham couldn't get it mounted? the renault engine?

sounds to me like redbull was postponing the inevitable hoping for updates from renault, or, more likely,
they had the exact same issue as caterham but didn't want to say it, or renault didn't want them to say it loud.

would that even be possible design wise? i guess the mounting points would be completly different

offcourse it would need some attention, but again - the brawn bgp001 was designed as a honda chassis with a honda engine in mind. yet, brawn spooned a merc engine in there last-minute and sailed it home into a WCC+WDC car.
so yes, it definately is possible design wise.

it'll take some effort, but if the stories are true, then i'm sure waiting 20 weeks for a POSSIBLE fix for the renault engine disaster, versus spooning in a merc engine that is reliable and vastly powerfull, and perhaps compromising some design aspects is a choice made without needing to even think about it.

cooling issues? an engine that can't function above 75% of it's capacity? 20 weeks until a POSSIBLE (no guarantee it'll all be swell and without errors by then) fix? well.....the math is done quick.

If i was whitmarsh, the first thing i'd do is wave goodbye to renault, spoon in a merc engine ala brawn, and take whatever comes.

[langwadt]

would that even be possible design wise? i guess the mounting points would be completly different

5.3.5 Power unit mountings may only comprise six M12 studs for connection to the survival cell and
six M12 studs for connection to the transmission. All studs must be used and may be fitted on
the survival cell, power unit or transmission. The installed end of the studs must be M12 and
the free end may be a different diameter.
The mounting faces of the studs for connection to the survival cell must lie on the forward of
the two planes described in Article 5.3.4 and be located at Y215/Z15(2), Y340/Z260(2) and
Y175/Z420(2).
The mounting faces of the studs for connection to the transmission must lie on one vertical
plane normal to the car centre line and be located at Y100/Z15(2), Y150/Z140(2) and
Y255/Z345(2).
A tolerance of +/- 0.2mm will be permitted on all of the above dimensions, all dimensions
refer to the centre of the studs.
The distance between the two planes is fixed at 480mm (+/-0.2mm).
Any part which provides an additional load path from the survival cell to the gearbox, with a
connection to the power unit, may only do so if this is incidental to its principal purpose.