James Allison: Canada is the most challenging circuit of the year – Formula 1 news
Lotus technical director, James Allison believes that 2012 Canadian Grand Prix which is to be held at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal on June 10 is going to be extremely challenging for all the contenders with regard to the brake wear.
“There are several high speed straights into low speed corners so brakes receive repeated extreme use over the course of a lap. Canada is the most challenging circuit of the year from point of view of brake wear. Brake wear is largely a function of brake
temperature, so a lot of work must be done (using tools such as CFD, wind tunnel and a brake dynamometer rig) to ensure adequate aerodynamic cooling of disks and pads,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said that they are contended with their car E20 as they have not faced any major problems in the season so far.
“Luckily the car has been quite good on brakes throughout the year to date with no real issues to report,” he said.
Lotus are currently at fourth place in the constructors’ championship with 86 points. Moreover, they are 25 points ahead of Mercedes AMG and 22 points behind McLaren.
Meanwhile, their driver, Kimi Raikkonen has performed quite convincingly in the season until now as he is currently at sixth position in the drivers’ championship with 51 points. Besides, he is 6 points ahead of Jenson Button of McLaren and 8 points behind
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.
On the other hand, his teammate, Romain Grosjean has also delivered some reasonable performances and is standing at 8th position in the drivers’ rankings with 35 points. Furthermore, he is 10 points behind Button and 6 points ahead of Pastor Maldonado of
Williams.
In addition, Allison said that they have been trying their best to make the necessary developments and the essential preparations to improve the pace of their car for the forthcoming races to secure a competitive position in this year’s championship.
The British team has emerged as one of the most competitive contenders in this season. Additionally, they have a car which is competent enough of winning. Therefore, they are confidently aiming at reducing the gap to the front so as to make their position
stronger in the title fight.
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