Team Lotus drivers to miss Friday practice session of Chinese Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Team Lotus have said that they are going to replace both of their full season race drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli for the first practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix which is scheduled to take place this Friday.
The team revealed that their third driver Luiz Razia and reserve driver Davide Valsecchi are going to test for the team.
Valsecchi tested for the team for the Friday practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix before this while it will be the first Formula 1 outing of Luiz for the 2011 season.
Razia revealed that the team is going to test some new upgrades on its new car in order to improve it before the Chinese Grand Prix.
“It's a great opportunity. I will do the first practice with two sets of tyres and one or two new items brought straight from the factory,” said Razia.
However, both Kovalainen and Trulli are going to test for the team during the second practice session in Shanghai. Lotus’ chief technical director Mike Gascoyne stated that it is important for the team to get the T128 ready before the qualifying session
of the Chinese Grand Prix.
“We have Luiz Razia and Davide Valsecchi driving for us in FP1 and I think Shanghai will be another interesting weekend for us, especially as we have had two races so far in such different conditions. In Melbourne the tyres lasted longer than I think everyone
expected and then in Malaysia there was much higher drop-off and multiple stops as a result,” said Mike.
He added that the team is going to be in an “unknown territory” with the tyres and cooler temperatures which is going to make it even more difficult for Lotus to achieve its goals and hopefully improve its performance for the upcoming races of the 2011 Formula
1 season.
The Chinese Grand Prix will be the third grand prix of the new season which will be held at the Shanghai race circuit.
So far, both of the opening two races in Australia and Malaysia were won by Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel. Let’s see if he is able to maintain his performance in Shanghai.
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