After encountering a horrible season in 2014, the Lotus Formula One team took a page out of Williams and released their new E23 challenger early online. Like the Grove based team, Lotus has no date yet for an official launch, but the presentation sets a new pattern for the Enstone squad as few new things are in place for 2015.
The first, is the jump from Renault to Mercedes powered units. Many felt on the team that Lotus and their performance last season was caused by the low powered Renault engine and that the chance was risked by switching their engines to the Stuttgart, Germany manufacturer. This occurred when a spot was open after McLaren decided to use Honda engines this season.
Nick Chester, in charge as the technical director of the team, stated to ESPN F1 that it is not just the engine that is different, it is the whole aerodynamic package, something that they have worked on since November.
“The E23 Hybrid represents a massive step forward for us,” Chester said. “It’s no secret that we struggled with last year’s car so we’ve targeted every area that caused us an issue. We’ve made strong progress in the wind tunnel as well as in areas such as packaging and cooling. We expect the E23 to perform far, far better than its predecessor.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
“In terms of what’s new, obviously a massive change for us is a new power unit supplier. We made this change as it looked and looks to be the one area of the car which could bring us the greatest performance gain. It’s not just performance, but reliability and drivability as well as packaging and cooling too. The E22 did deliver good figures in the wind tunnel, even if it was difficult to unlock its potential, so we’ve paid more attention to making the characteristics of the car more adaptable.”
Considering the big changes, Lotus still faces a struggle with their budget, and rehiring Pastor Maldonado with a Colombian oil manufacturer sponsorship, along with Romain Grosjean, and his French Total oil support, keeps the team just funded enough for this season. Both drivers will have to put the new changes into effect when the first test comes early next week.
The team even had more problems in the middle of last season when their front and rear suspension Interconnected system was banned by the FIA. This ruined the team and how they carried out their set ups, but Chester claimed that they have already fixed this issue.
"In terms of the suspension, we were delivered something of a blow last year when the front-rear interconnected suspension was outlawed mid-season. The E23’s suspension design is specific to the updated regulations so we’re not trying to update a system originally intended to work a different way.We learned a lot in many areas of the car over the course of 2014 so there are many lessons which have been applied. We know we’ve made a big step. We won’t know how our car will fare in relative terms until we’re out in action at a Grand Prix, but we certainly expect to be much more competitive than last year."
And if that competitiveness is there, then the team will obtain more sponsors, something they always will need.