20/03/2015
NEWS STORY
Lotus Deputy Team Principal, Federico Gastaldi, and Technical Director Nick Chester look ahead to the Malaysian Grand Prix.
How important a race is the Malaysian Grand Prix?
Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: It's amazing to think we'll be racing in Sepang for the seventeenth time this year! Malaysia's an interesting commercial market for us as a team and the event usually delivers a great race. Sepang's a superb facility and there's normally a really strong turn out too. The track layout really challenges the drivers and engineers and this combined with the challenges the weather can present makes for an event we all enjoy.
What do you expect to see from the team in Kuala Lumpur?
FG: We should build on the work in Australia. Yes, our race was very short there, however we've demonstrated the first step of our 2015 fightback by qualifying in the top ten with good race pace potential. There's nothing to say Sepang should not suit us, so we're ready to deliver.
What did the team learn in Australia?
FG: We learnt that the E23 looks to be a good car relative to its opposition, albeit a car that still has strong development potential to get better. Pastor and Romain were both very happy over the weekend in Australia. Even after both drivers retired from the race for different reasons, they both still had glints in their eyes despite their race frustrations. The reason for the underlying positivity at the team is we know we're capable of delivering good strong results this year.
Did the Formula 1 spectacle deliver in Australia?
FG: On many levels the event delivered spectacularly. The crowds were fantastic, the organisation was exemplary and it's a pleasure to start the season in Melbourne. The official ticket sales information say that there were 101,500 spectators on Sunday which is a very impressive rise compared to last year's sales. Formula 1 is back on track! We must all say thanks a Million Ron Walker for a magnificent job done from you and your fantastic team through 20 great races. Formula 1 will miss your exemplary personality and entrepreneurship enthusiasm! In terms of this year's track action, we can't say that it was a classic race, and not only because our cars weren't involved in most of it! That said, you never know what might happen in the first race of the season. There were some good battles down the field and some very good debuts from new drivers. It's clear all of us have some work to do to take the battle to Mercedes, but that's what we're all working hard for.
What do you want to see in Sepang?
FG: Points. That's what we're here for. We want to see progress from the start we made at Albert Park and it would be fantastic to have both cars greet the chequered flag with a good clutch of points stashed away. Of course, this is what every team is trying to do, but we're battling hard at Enstone to make this happen.
What are your thoughts on what looks like the loss of the German Grand Prix?
FG: It's not looking promising for this year but I'm sure we'll be back in 2016. It's of course a shame for everyone, especially all the German fans who wanted to come see Formula 1, but these things happen sometimes in the commercial world. For the team we know we have nineteen races. Twenty races makes for a long season so we still have a pretty full season even if one race is dropped.
What's the route map for the team in the initial part of the 2015 season?
FG: Re-establishing ourselves as a force to be reckoned with on track is certainly the primary aim as we did suffer in that regard last season. Through doing this we can offer the best return to our partners as well as show further appeal for new partners. We're having a number of discussions in this area so there's strong potential to grow the team before the year is out.
Technical Director Nick Chester evaluates the first Grand Prix of the season and looks to the challenge of Sepang.
What are the particular challenges of Malaysia?
Nick Chester: It is hot and humid and there is a good chance of a heavy downpour, particularly late in afternoon, meaning it can be at the end of qualifying or halfway through the race. Traditionally the drivers have always liked the layout of the circuit. It has a good mix of corners – hairpins onto long straights and then in the middle part of the track, there are high speed sweeping turns. Sepang has an interesting layout and we shall look forward to racing there again this year.
What's your review of the Australian Grand Prix?
NC: The build of the car went fairly smoothly at the beginning of the weekend getting both chassis ready for Friday's practice sessions. The performance of the car was pretty good from the onset: the drivers were happy, the car was good to drive and we were able to work the tyres quite well. Into Saturday, the performance was definitely there as we got both cars into Q3. The race was disappointing as without retirements both drivers would have scored a good chunk of points.
What are your initial thoughts of the relative performance of the car?
NC: We are reasonably happy. We look like we could be regular Q3 contenders but there is more that we want to be doing such as closing the gap to Williams and moving away more from the group behind us. There is more to do!
What were the technical issues experienced over the weekend and can they be rectified?
NC: There was a problem with the charge air system where a leak developed and this happened to both cars on Friday. With a bit of work and a few changes we had the initial problem fixed, however unfortunately we saw something similar on Sunday on Romain's car. We had done over 4,000kms in winter testing and that issue hadn't occurred so it is a bit strange that it happened now. When you are at the track it can be challenging to solve such an issue rapidly nonetheless we are now rectifying the issue at the factory. We have a couple of different approaches and we're doing extensive testing to ensure we have a robust solution.
How much work was required to Pastor's car after the impact?
NC: The left hand side suspension, the floor and the front wing were damaged so quite a reasonable amount of work was required but it will be ready for the first practice session in Malaysia.
What could have been possible in the race in Melbourne?
NC: If we didn't experience the unfortunate crash and the charge air system leak, we could probably have been looking at fifth and sixth positions. Both drivers had qualified ahead of Felipe Nasr who ended the race fifth and our long run performance on Friday looked good so there is no reason why our drivers could not have achieved that.
How much is there yet to come from the E23?
NC: A fair bit I'd say. It's a brand new car and there is quite a lot of aero development work to do; we will be pushing developments all through the year for it. We are happy as we have a good platform to work from. The drivers enjoy driving the E23; they find it is a consistent car they are able to push to the limit quite well. It's great to have this basis to work from as it means that we can focus on adding performance.