01/06/2012
NEWS STORY
Following a weekend in Monaco which promised much but delivered little, Lotus F1 Team Principal Eric Boullier puts Monaco behind him and focuses on Montreal.
How are the team approaching the Canadian Grand Prix?
Eric Boullier: We approach the Grand Prix as any other. We have a car which has shown good pace all season and two drivers who have both shown they can deliver podium performances in this highly competitive season. Yes, we are coming off the back of a disappointing weekend in Monaco, but we've shrugged off worse setbacks than that.
What went wrong in Monaco?
EB: Put simply, we didn't achieve the results we wanted, or the results it looked like should have had. It's difficult to achieve a good result if one car doesn't make it to the first corner, and that's what happened to Romain. It was a racing incident, but that doesn't make it any easier for us to stomach as it was clear he had good pace all weekend. Kimi never quite got everything hooked up, and in the race he was unable to push as he struggled for grip. We can't get too hung up on this: it was one weekend in twenty. Hopefully we deliver better in the remaining 14 races.
How does the team bounce back from a difficult weekend like that?
EB: The positives we have are the same as we've had all year. The E20 is fast, strong and reliable. Our speed on Thursday and Saturday in Monaco was easily unlocked and both drivers felt comfortable with their cars. We all know that Monaco is unique in its requirements, so it's far better to have problems with the distinct needs of Monte Carlo than with the more normal circuit layouts.
Does the result in Monaco change the battle plan for the Canadian Grand Prix?
EB: Everyone in the team knows their job and we are all focused on achieving the best results possible. We don't approach any event differently from another. We know there are areas where we are strong and we know there are areas where we need to improve, and these are areas where we focus our efforts. Setbacks and successes are both part of this sport, but we are hoping for more of the latter this year.
How are the team's championship prospects?
EB: This season has been interesting as no-one has been able to dominate, in either the drivers' or constructors' championships. We have the same number of points as Ferrari in third position in the constructors' championship, while Kimi is 25 points away from Fernando Alonso who's leading the drivers' classification. Anything can still happen and the championship is wide open.
How do view the strength of Formula 1 as a sport at the moment?
EB: I think it's in good health. It's difficult to speak for other teams, but from our perspective we have been signing new sponsors at a pleasing rate this year, and we are still talking to other potential partners. There is a lot of interest in Formula 1, and the sport is growing in many areas.
Six winners from six races; can the team make it seven from seven?
EB: Let's hope so. Both Kimi and Romain are capable of winning and the E20 has shown race winning pace. Winning a Grand Prix is not the easiest thing in the world to achieve however, and I don't imagine that we'll have a different winner for every race this year; a pattern should begin to emerge before too long. We're looking forward to Montreal. It's the first low downforce track of the season, where the E20 should be strong. Our 500th race may not have been one of our best, but I hope the 501st is!
A race of puzzling frustration in Monaco last time out left the team trying to figure out just what went wrong. Technical Director James Allison helps to shed some light on a race to forget in Monaco and looks to Montreal's challenges.
Now we've had some time to reflect on Monaco, what do you think went wrong for the team?
James Allison: I think the most difficult thing to judge from the last race if whether what we saw from Kimi would have been mirrored by Romain had he not retired so early in the race. Nothing we saw on Thursday or Saturday seemed to suggest that it would have done, but if he had suffered similarly with tyre degradation then it would have been a difficult race for him too.
Kimi missed the first session due to a steering change - is this area a concern for the team?
JA: Monaco demands a specific steering setup which entails different suspension components to enable sufficient steering lock to be employed. In addition, we tried a higher geared steering setup for Kimi. You can't try this in advance so the practice session was used with this new setup, but it was evident very quickly that this setup was not suitable. The change takes sufficient time to mean we started it immediately in the first practice, but he knows the track well. We could also see Romain's pace despite a lack of F1 experience in Monaco. Kimi struggled with both the car and the tyres throughout the weekend and I would think it would have been a troublesome event for him with or without having run in every session. Our base steering set-up has got Kimi on to the podium, but we're still working on refining it to get it exactly to his liking.
Was track and tyre temperature a factor in the race?
JA: It's genuinely hard to say. The track temperature for most of the race was in the low 30s which is not unusual; we've been to several circuits throughout the course of the year with similar conditions and have had no issues keeping our tyres within a good operating window. Probably the most unusual thing about Monaco is the smoothness of the surface - which is more noticeable than at any other venue - and the E20 has generally performed best at circuits with rougher tarmac.
Kimi seemed to suffer more than others from tyre degradation. Previously the E20 has looked very good on its tyres...
JA: It was a bit of a surprise. Every team seems to have had a bit of yo-yoing with tyres this year but we've certainly had less than most up to this point; in fact we'd had none at all until we came to Monaco. Taking a positive outlook, if we can continue to have five good races for every one bad race this year we'll be in good shape over the season.
From one street course to another - can we expect more of the same in Montreal?
JA: Montreal is a total contrast to Monaco, however it's another circuit which is further towards the smoother end of the spectrum in terms of track surface, so it will give us a chance to see how much this may have affected performance in Monaco, and whether we can get the business done under these kinds of circumstances.
How different will the car be?
JA: We'll be taking a smaller rear wing with a front wing set up to balance that. One of the key factors is to make sure we have our braking configuration correctly set up with good levels of cooling to survive what is a very arduous race for the brakes. Luckily the car has been quite good on brakes throughout the year to date with no real issues to report.
How much of a concern is braking in Canada and what can you do because of this?
JA: There are several high speed straights into low speed corners so the brakes receive repeated extreme use over the course of a lap. Canada is the most challenging circuit of the year from the point of view of the brake wear. Brake wear is largely a function of brake temperature, and so a lot of work must be done (using tools such as CFD, the wind tunnel and a brake dynamometer rig) to ensure adequate aerodynamic cooling of the disks and pads.