22 May 2011

Lotus Renault GP - Spanish Grand Prix 2011

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer - Technical programme notes

• It was a reasonably routine Friday for us apart from running a slightly different programme to help us understand the new hard Pirelli tyre.

• We ran both drivers with high and low fuel loads on the hard tyres to get as much information as possible from this new compound.

• The KERS on Vitaly’s car did not work today, but we’re reasonably confident we can get to the bottom of the problem and have it working tomorrow.

• The hard tyre should allow fewer pit stops , but the soft is much quicker over one lap.

• Both drivers were reasonably happy with their cars today but I think there is more improvement to come from the car once we’ve been through the data.

Nick Heidfeld, R31-04
Free practice 1: P8, 1:27.132, 21 laps
Free practice 2: P10, 1:24.366, 31 laps

Nick: “What was really interesting today were Pirelli’s new super hard tyres. Although we’ve gained some experience of them occasionally on Fridays, we haven’t used them a lot and they didn’t really perform as I expected. They are significantly slower over one lap and during the long run too. That’s the main difference between them and the previous hard tyres. The good thing is that I tried some out of the box things today, and attempted some different aspects to try and improve performance. We also managed to work on the set-up, which was useful. I think we’ve made some progress, but tonight we need to analyse exactly what we’ve learnt and where we can get even better going into P3 and Qualifying tomorrow.”

Vitaly Petrov, R31-03
Free practice 1: P11, 1:27.241, 22 laps
Free practice 2: P12, 1:24.786, 43 laps

Vitaly: “The good thing is we were able to test both sets of tyres for a number of laps, so we could take lots of useful data which is what today is for. On the other hand, I lost a lot of time because of not being able to use KERS to its full potential, so it was a little bit frustrating. This meant there was less power for my car, but the KERS also affects the braking so we had to work on the brake balance to compensate. I’m optimistic and looking forward to seeing what happens tomorrow.”

 

Saturday 21 May 2011

Nick Heidfeld, R31-04
Free Practice 3: P23, 1:29.200, 6 laps
Qualifying: No time set

Vitaly Petrov, R31-03
Free Practice 3: P8, 1:24.043, 18 laps
Qualifying: P6, 1.22.471, 14 laps

An action-packed Spanish qualifying session amid hot conditions at the Circuit de Cataluña resulted in Vitaly securing P6 on tomorrow’s grid.

With just over two minutes remaining of Q3, Vitaly came out onto the track to secure a time of 1min 22.471 seconds. The Russian finished ahead of both Mercedes cars and Felipe Massa to claim the position and put him in contention at the top end for tomorrow’s race.

Nick, meanwhile, was unfortunate in not being able to compete in the session despite the team working flat out to help him get out for Q1. Nick’s car was unable to continue after flames appeared in the morning’s FP3 session when the right exhaust became too hot and the car suffered a power failure.

Nick will start tomorrow’s race from the pitlane, whilst Vitaly will be looking to a strong start to challenge for some good points.

Sunday, 22 May 2011

Nick Heidfeld:
How does racing here this weekend compare to the visit you made a few months ago for testing?
NH: Well, the main thing is we know the car and the tyres better, but of course the conditions are a lot hotter this time around, so that has an effect on the tyres. Pre-season it was much cooler so we had bigger engine power and more downforce, and we were a bit quicker than we are now. However, generally, the car is stronger now and this should help us today.

Yesterday was challenging, ‘one of those days’ if you like – how far can you move up the ranks today?
NH: I’m actually looking forward to the race quite a lot because I have to and I will do quite a lot of overtaking. As we’ve seen before this season, if you have new tyres you can move forwards, and I’ve got six sets (unfortunately three hard ones are not that quick) but my aim is definitely to get into the points.

Not being able to compete in qualifying yesterday, you do (as you say) have those extra tyres – how much will that help you today?
NH: I think it will help me enough to finish in the points, even whilst starting last. We will see how far I go forwards. For pure lap time, it’s definitely better but I do have a lot of cars to overtake so if I can pass them, I will have a good result.

Vitaly Petrov:
What have you learnt from the race today?
VP: “We learnt even more about tyre degradation, and it’s clear that we need more new, fresh tyres because they wear very quickly. To start on the grid in P6 and finish 11th is not what I’d hoped for, but we must now start looking at improving for Monaco which is only a few days away. We’ve had a chance to analyse some aspects of the race already and we will come into Monaco with a stronger performance.

How was the reception from the Spanish fans this weekend?
VP: “It was great actually. I did the Driver Parade earlier and they were all clapping and cheering me, so I was really pleased about that.

Looking ahead to Monaco, what are going to be the key challenges at what is a very unique circuit?
VP: “One thing is clear – qualifying will be crucial there, because of how the track is. That is the key to success, and I think we can have one of our best races there.”

How different is F1 now compared to this time last year?
VP: “Well, I have mentioned the tyres but the DRS is useful – it takes some getting used to but it’s very helpful in overtaking, and it can benefit us if we use it well. We should not forget KERS, which is another thing for the teams to consider but it adds another side to the competition.