Lotus also didn't reach expected workload. Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean were doing 272 laps. But the black car was fast from the beginning as last year. Technical Director James Allison beamed: "We have a very good car, it does everything that it should do."
The concerns at Lotus have nothing to do with technology. Team owner Gerard Lopez is desperately looking for a main sponsor. The expected 30-million-dollar deal with Honeywell fell through. They probably were taken in by a conman. Williams also had been negotiating with Honeywell representatives. A demand at the board of the company showed that there never had been interest on a Formula 1 involvement.
Scarce funds make Lotus vulnerable. The development could suffer. Also there are speculations that Ferrari and McLaren have already extended their tentacles to technical director James Allison.
Maybe money is not an issue for Genii " title="hmm" />
ZitatJames Allen @Jamesallenonf1 Lotus #f1 owner Genii Capital has become a shareholder in German car maker RUF, Genii boss Gerard Lopez becomes non-exec chairman of RUF
Zitat von YiNingMaybe money is not an issue for Genii
ZitatJames Allen @Jamesallenonf1 Lotus #f1 owner Genii Capital has become a shareholder in German car maker RUF, Genii boss Gerard Lopez becomes non-exec chairman of RUF
i think genii invests as long as they see sufficient returns...
Forget the 'big three' -- Christian Horner has admitted teams other than Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari made the "strongest impression" on him last week at Jerez.
"Lotus and Sauber left the strongest impression," the Red Bull chief said, according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.
"All the others are still difficult to assess," added Horner.
The German magazine's correspondent Michael Schmidt said the new grey Sauber had Nico Hulkenberg "smiling" all week as the opening test at Jerez unfolded.
"Eyewitnesses say the C32 is the best car in the field in fast corners," said Schmidt.
Swiss newspaper Blick's veteran correspondent Roger Benoit, meanwhile, quoted Hulkenberg as confiding to his Sauber colleagues: "Guys, this car goes like the devil."
As for Lotus, both Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen each tasted the top of the timesheets during the four-day test.
"We are quite surprised," admitted the always-grinning Frenchman Grosjean, according to RMC. "I think everybody saw my smile."
Now this is actually quite interesting. Normally Jerez is very difficult track to draw any conclusions from for F1 fans. So to hear the impressions from people within the teams are always good. In truth I haven't really been wowed by Lotus so far. They look alright but it is difficult to make any real assessments.
People have been making big assessments based on the best times, but that is heavily flawed as those 1.18 times are not on low fuel, the team will still be able to run about 15 -20 laps after that. And top of that Jerez has some of the worst tyre denigration. That all makes it pretty difficult.
The worst calculation I ve seen have properly been from Gary Anderson. " title="roll" /> He makes the assumption that all of the best times are really low fuel runs, which it is not, and he doesn't take the type of tyre into consideration. The real best time at Jerez was Vettel who did a 1.18:5 on hard tyres, but actually Grosjean also did a 1.18:5 on hard tyres it just wasn't his best time of day (his best time was 1.18:2 on soft tyres) so people dont take it into account. I bet Gary Anderson will have a big surprise at Barcelona.
Anyways it is therefore really interesting that Christian Horner should be impressed with Sauber and Lotus, of course he could also just be undermining Ferrari and Mclaren on purpose. Barcelona will be the real test.
Zitat von Olgathanks Boudica! ( great avatar by the way )
Thanks!
Zitat von Olgaits so flattering to share the same impression with Horner!
Yes, you would know! You've said that Allison has been smiling widely the whole week long. That could yet turn out to be much more significant then the timing sheets. " title="naughty" />
@boudica: yes, i thought so too, i mean he looked so happy, if the car was crappy or with a big problem, he would be " title="sad" /> when i got the chance to tell him this in person, and tried to link it with having a great car, he smiled and told me: you know, i'm a happy person in general! ( huge smile! ) but i'll keep thinking he was happy for the car mostly!
It may have been his way of deflecting the answer to your question, Olga. You know how these guys talk in the paddock. It's consistently "lets wait and see.." So would you expect Allison to say "we have a great car." ? h" title="hih" />
The other aspect to keep in mind is how early in the season we are. The cars will change immensely from Jerez to Melbourne. And I'm sure Allison knows the path the car will take. But a good foundation is very important (just like Kulta said)!
Can't wait for Barcelona to start. We will get a better sense of the relative pace of each team " title="waiting" />
read this during morning coffee...not sure i get it....
ZitatThis winter appears to have been the close season of utter uncertainty surrounding driver line up. Maybe the Force India, Marussia and Caterham dithering is explained fairly easily. However, the Lotus failure to confirm Romain was a little strange for a while, particularly when you consider Eric Boulier’s personal endorsements.
Unconfirmed rumours emerged over the festive period that Total were unhappy with Lotus F1 proposal to race with Grosjean in 2013. They have been running some safety campaign and felt bizarrely that his crash in Spa and other dubious incidents compromised the integrity of their message. To you and I this obviously appears an absurd comparison for Total to have concern toward. So I suspected at the time there may have been other agenda’s in play.
The Partnership Practice With Coca-Cola on board, Genii appeared to have pulled another master stroke by engaging a title sponsor – American technology giant Honeywell - for reported $30m per anum. This news was leaked and reported widely in the F1 media. The Partnership Practice played out their role well, denying that such a deal was imminent, whilst not denying negotiations were ongoing.
The story meandered off into the distance and as yet, nothing came of the matter. However, I heard last week that the Honeywell rumour was a stroke pulled by Genii to keep Total in line. The bait for Honeywell was a technology company in which Genii retains a shareholding in exchange for capital.
TJ13 was one of the first to break the Lotus/Honeywell rumour on Nov 30th (Google ‘Honeywell Lotus’ and TJ13 appears on page 1 of the search with earliest date of all articles), and by the 9th of December – Romain was confirmed as Kimi’s partner for 2013.
However, I have hit a brick wall with the company used as lure for Honeywell. Genii and partners invested in a technology company by the name of ‘Zinc Imaging’ to the tune of $35m about 12 months ago however this is not of great significance because one of their main sectors for investment is ‘technology’. Hence the attraction for Honeywell could have been a stake/ownership of any number of organisations where Genii presently hold shares.
I’m beginning to admire Genii somewhat. They play the same sport as CVC, but appear to have genuine abilities to invest in proper organisations and assist them in growing. Further, for the time being they appear to be genuinely interested in developing the Lotus F1 team and increasing sponsorship support for the historic marque.
They are the essential Yin in juxtaposition to CVC’s Yang.
I don't really understand it neither... but maybe because nobody really know the truth and they're just speculating and trying to be as cryptic as possible so they will not appear to be wrong later h" title="hih" />
I don't really buy the part about Total and Grosjean, you can see Total only appear on Grosjean's race suit, they're definitly sponsoring Lotus because of Grosjean.
Lotus F1 Team owners Genii Capital have expanded their involvement in top level automotive excellence by becoming a strategic partner to specialist vehicle manufacturer RUF Automobile
Genii Capital is delighted to announce that it has become a shareholder and strategic partner to German automobile manufacturer RUF, which will see Genii Capital founding partner Gerard Lopez become the non-executive chairman of the board.
RUF – established in 1939 – is synonymous with high performance vehicles based on the Porsche platform. It is classified as a manufacturer in its own right by the German government and produces a range of high performance cars including the 750 horsepower CTR3; the latest in a lineage from the iconic 1987 CTR ‘Yellowbird’ which was the fastest production car in the world when it was launched, with a top speed of 342kmh (214mph).
Genii will further enhance the RUF branding in emerging markets, while using its Business Exchange platform to identify new strategic opportunities. A centrepiece will be the in-house developed, high performance, light weight V8 engine.
Gerard Lopez: “RUF is a fantastic brand with a loyal customer base and a global brand name. It is cars like the CTR (Yellowbird) and its successors that have build RUF’s legend. Today the brand is also connected to younger generations through its appearance in number one selling driver computer games, opening the potential to new buyers across the world. To be involved with RUF, you have to be passionate about high performance vehicles and Porsche in particular, as no other company in the world shows more respect to this brand. I count myself amongst those passionate for both, so for Genii to be able to make this commitment to RUF’s future at such an exciting period in their development is particularly rewarding. The high performance vehicle market is going through a fundamental transition with emerging markets and alternative propulsion solutions paving the way for RUF’s future. In light of these developments, the Geneva Motor Show will be especially exciting this year.”
Alois Ruf: “It will soon be 50 years since I started to share my vision on a truly unique platform in automotive history; the Porsche 911. Looking forward I see a very exciting future in which we will be assisted by Gerard Lopez. I have been proud to see Gerard grow from an RUF-fascinated kid into a client – and first of all a friend – over more than 20 years and am very much looking forward to having him as a partner in RUF Automobile GmbH.” (Lotus)
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