01/04/2014
NEWS STORY
Deputy Team Principal Federico Gastaldi is buoyed by the team's first finish of the year, but under no illusions of the task ahead.
What's the outlook for Bahrain?
Federico Gastaldi: We head to Bahrain still with lots of work to do, but with clear evidence that we are heading in the right direction. We're at a very early stage in the understanding of our car's performance and we're still having to fight reliability issues; no doubt you will find us in Bahrain with plenty of work to do!
Seeing Romain cross the finish line in Sepang must have been a good feeling?
FG: After the start we have had to this season, of course it was a great feeling to complete the Malaysian Grand Prix. That said, we're not here as a team to celebrate a non-points finish. Our performance in Sepang represents a step in getting to where we want to be, and we have quite a lot more steps to make. The positive is that we are seeing progress so we are going in the right direction.
He was very determined to keep eleventh position?
FG: Hearing him on the radio and speaking to him afterwards, he was very determined to do much better than that! The problem with rear downforce for the last eight laps of the race really meant he was fighting with one hand tied behind his back but he was still trying to fight for the positions ahead before he had to deliver a strong defensive drive. It was great stuff to watch.
Not quite the same relief over in Pastor's side of the garage?
FG: Pastor had a very trying weekend with more than his fair share of problems, yet the fantastic thing has been that he hasn't let this dishearten him. On the contrary, his response has been fantastic and motivating for everyone. He is a very uplifting guy and will always share a joke with the crew in the garage or the team back at the factory. You can see the determination and focus in his eyes, but he certainly hasn't given any indication of being the kind of driver who will throw his toys out of the pram when things aren't going his way.
How's the motivation of the team?
FG: I still say it's stronger than ever. We have an even higher mountain than usual to climb so we are up for the challenge. It's incredible how relentless everyone at the track and at Enstone is in their focus and approach to getting us to where we want to be.
When can the team be fighting for points?
FG: Romain was unlucky that he wasn't in the points in Sepang so it wouldn't be a lie to say that we have already been fighting for points. We are still at such an early stage of extracting performance from the E22 that our potential for improvement is very good.
What's the short term plan for progress?
FG: We are targeting reliability as that enables us to better understand the car. Equally, we are bringing new aerodynamic and performance parts to every race. When we get more track time we have more understanding of the car and more information for our engineers to work on.
Now it's two races into the 2014 season, what are your thoughts on the racing spectacle?
FG: Aside from the results from the team so far, I have enjoyed the last two Grands Prix. The cars move about a lot and there have been some good wheel-to-wheel moments which is always great to watch. The fascinating aspect is the knowledge that we are all so early in the understanding of how to race to these latest regulations. This means we will see the racing evolve a lot over the season as the teams all develop their cars and race strategies and the drivers understand better how to extract maximum performance from them. It's going to be a great season.
Improvements in reliability mean attention is turning to unleashing the true performance of the E22. Lotus F1 Team Technical Director Nick Chester explains all...
What did the team learn in Sepang?
Nick Chester: We've learnt more about our mapping and we've made some improvements with the braking of the car, but there is still a lot more to come. We have more work to do at Enstone including improving the set-up and operation of our brake-by-wire system, which is one of the areas where the drivers have the biggest complaints. It's spoiling their entry into the corner and costing them quite a lot of time.
How does brake by wire work and why is it causing issues?
NC: The system looks at what the driver is requesting from the brake pedal and then the demand is split between a braking force generated by the power unit and a normal hydraulic braking force from the callipers. The difficult part is fine tuning those two different types of braking demands so that they work together in a natural, predictable way for the driver. It's very important to have a brake-by-wire system that responds the way you want and to get the mapping correct so that you have the right braking behaviour to make it easier for the driver to control wheel locking. When you initially apply the brakes you want to get the pressures up high as quickly as you can, for good retardation. But for corner entry, how you come off the brakes is really important. Being able to carry good speed into the corner apex makes a massive difference to the lap time.
If we add up all of the laps done with the E22 so far this year, it's probably the same as the first three days of testing last year...
NC: That's right. We are at a very early stage in terms of understanding of the car so there is a lot of latent potential to be unearthed. We are still exposing reliability weaknesses, but we're working through these well. The unfortunate aspect is that this has occurred at the races, where we want to be scoring points and building a championship campaign. At the races we're still doing some work that you would normally do in winter testing. Some of that is obviously due to an enormous regulation change - everybody is still learning - but due to our lack of running we are on a much steeper learning gradient. There is a positive that there are much bigger steps that we can make. An example of that is the improvement in wet qualifying performance this weekend relative to Melbourne.
How frustrating is it to lose track time due to different reliability issues?
NC: It is frustrating. Particularly in Malaysia because the build of the cars was very good, but then a software issue let us down and prevented us running in FP1.
Both our drivers have been vocal in praising the long hours done by the team at the racetrack. How much longer do the cars take to work on now?
NC: The cars are much more complicated this year. There is a lot more involved in the build of the car. Obviously it's only the second race and things will get easier. We will re-design things to make them easier to fit, the procedures will improve and the mechanics will get more familiar with the components. But even by mid-season, I would say it will still be a harder car to work on than last year. I'm sure that's the same for all teams.
How happy are you with the upgrades brought to Malaysia?
NC: It's a tricky one to tell because we lost a lot of Friday running, so we didn't get all the comparisons done that we normally do. We'll have to do a further comparison in Bahrain to get a proper feeling for how they perform.
What are the main challenges for Bahrain?
NC: We go there without a lot of mileage in winter testing so we have more set-up work to do on the track. Obviously temperatures can be quite high, so that is one thing we will have to watch out for. Then it's about getting more of our development parts on the car and doing more work with the power unit.