Lotus Renault GP focused about 2011 Formula 1 season despite current problems
Lotus Renault GP have been going through a tough time as Robert Kubica, who was expected to be one of the top running drivers of the 2011 Formula 1 season won’t be able to take part in the upcoming season as a result of a terrifying accident which nearly
cost him his right hand.
The team had to face a lot of problems and it was becoming difficult for the team to decide which driver they should sign for the 2011 season. However, the team recently revealed that they are not worried about their pace at the first two days of the second
pre-season test session that is taking place in Jerez and they revealed that the team will use Nick Heidfeld for testing on Saturday while Bruno Senna will drive on Sunday in their new car, the R31.
Vitaly Petrov had to test the car on both Thursday and Friday in Jerez and he was unable to score some good times. Robert Kubica on the other hand topped the time sheets at the first pre-season test session in Valencia which increased the expectations from
the team.
Robert’s loss is going to affect the team a lot and since the team was facing some technical problems on Friday in Jerez, things are not looking too good for Renault at the moment.
Nevertheless, Petrov believes that he is still getting used to the new car and the team is making progress without a doubt.
“We were not worried about the lap times and instead we focussed on the tyres to try and understand how they work. We also did some aero mapping in the morning and then spent a lot of time working on the brakes and the KERS,” he said.
Unfortunately, the team lost a lot of time after the water leak in the car and the team was unable to achieve its minimum expected runtime for the day.
The team’s boss Eric Boullier believes that the team really is improving its car and confirmed that Nick Heidfeld will replace Robert Kubica for the test session. However, he did not state that he would replace Robert for the whole 2011 Formula 1 season.
“Our second day in Jerez was not the easiest because we suffered with some minor technical problems. However, we still managed reasonable mileage and we have ticked off some more items on the job list,” said Eric.
It is going to be interesting to see how Heidfeld performs on Saturday in Jerez as his performance would definitely affect the team’s decision regarding Robert’s replacement and in order to be a part of the team, he would have to impress the team immensely
during his run.
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