Lotus E22 Reveal

[Ragnarson]

You thing that the late reveal date is hiding a podium finish car? Always excited for a new car, wonder if it is good enough to challenge Red bull and Ferrari?

[rscott]

Unless Renault/Red Bull have made drastic progress, I think Marussia will be challenging Red Bull for the first race or two!

[Ragnarson]

How do you propose they will challenge ? RedBull were running a tight ship all season, especially towards the end of the season

[rscott]

Er, you are aware of the issues with the Renault engine and Red Bull's packaging of it?
Marussia did more laps at the first test than all the Renault powered cars combined. That's even after Reb Bull hacked holes in the side of their cars to stop them overheating.

I'm sure RB/Renault will sort it eventually, but doubt it'll be before the seasons starts.

[warmfuzzies]

rscott said:

Er, you are aware of the issues with the Renault engine and Red Bull's packaging of it?
Marussia did more laps at the first test than all the Renault powered cars combined. That's even after Reb Bull hacked holes in the side of their cars to stop them overheating.

I'm sure RB/Renault will sort it eventually, but doubt it'll be before the seasons starts.

Quoted in case you change your mind....

[BritishRacinGrin]

Don't underestimate the combined resources of Renault and Renault's 'works' team. I'm not saying there won't be problems, and yes first indications are that they might suffer more than Mercedes or Ferrari powered cars, but I'd expect Renault will be on top of this quickly and the solutions to the problems will likely be circulated to Renault's customer teams too.

[rscott]

warmfuzzies said:

rscott said:

Er, you are aware of the issues with the Renault engine and Red Bull's packaging of it?
Marussia did more laps at the first test than all the Renault powered cars combined. That's even after Reb Bull hacked holes in the side of their cars to stop them overheating.

I'm sure RB/Renault will sort it eventually, but doubt it'll be before the seasons starts.

Quoted in case you change your mind....

Happy for you to do so. As I said, I'm sure they will sort it eventually, just not for the start of the season. We'll get a better idea next week.

[Chrisgr31]

rscott said:

Happy for you to do so. As I said, I'm sure they will sort it eventually, just not for the start of the season. We'll get a better idea next week.

Must admit I sort of hope they don't get them sorted out next week. Be nice to have a race with others having a chance!

[Ragnarson]

Chrisgr31 said:

Must admit I sort of hope they don't get them sorted out next week. Be nice to have a race with others having a chance!

So do I, but they will wont to avid the embarrassment of a sub standard car. I reckon by the next test they will have things sorted if not then Melbourne will be interesting to say the least

[ajprice]

Ragnarson said:

Chrisgr31 said:

Must admit I sort of hope they don't get them sorted out next week. Be nice to have a race with others having a chance!

So do I, but they will wont to avid the embarrassment of a sub standard car. I reckon by the next test they will have things sorted if not then Melbourne will be interesting to say the least

Thing is, in my head anyway, the Mercedes and Ferrari engined teams had 4 days of installation, running, aero tests with flow vis and sensors, race simulation distances, the lot. The Renault engined teams had 4 days of trying to make the cars not break, with varying degrees of success from 20 odd laps in 4 days (RB) to Kobayashi running about 50 laps in the Caterham. Renault teams have still got to get the data the others got in Jerez, Lotus are starting from square one, unless skipping Jerez was actually the work of genius because as the Renault team under another name they already knew the engine was a bag of nails and running there would have been pointless and embarrassing. The Mercedes and Ferrari teams will be there knowing more about how things actually work, what's good and what needs more work.