Formula 1

Lotus bringing more upgrades to Turkey

3 Mins read

Lotus are bringing a new rear wing and a number of new aero and mechanical parts to Turkey this weekend as the team look to get closer to the performance of the midfield runners in Istanbul.

Jarno Trulli enjoys racing around Istanbul Park, and hopes the improvements to the car will allow him to have a good race on Sunday. “The track in Turkey is good – turn eight is challenging but the rest of it is relatively simple, and definitely not as tricky as Monaco!” says the Italian.

I'm looking forward to getting out on track and having some better luck this weekend. My confidence in the car is growing all the time so I hope a bit of luck and the updates we've put on here will help me have a better race this weekend.”

Heikki Kovalainen not only likes the track, but also the Turkish city in which it is situated. He is also looking forward to seeing what the new parts can deliver. “It's good to be back in Turkey,” says Kovalainen, “the weather is usually nice here and it seems the same this weekend.

“Turkey itself is really cool – Istanbul is a huge city with some great places to go. The harbour area is nice and it's good to try and take some time and have a look around there in the evening – I'm staying on the Asian side this weekend, so I'm not sure I'll get much time off, but it's still good to be here.

“The track is great – it's a big circuit and we get back to a normal open race course after Monaco. We're fully prepared and I'm looking forward to practice tomorrow to see what the new wing gives us, and where we are after seeing such good pace in the car in Monaco.”

Lotus Sporting Director Dieter Gass has been putting Lotus’ performances so far this season into perspective, and thinks that the Turkish Grand Prix will provide a good challenge for the team. “Looking back on the year so far I think we can be extremely satisfied with what we have achieved.

“We've completed all the targets we set out at the beginning of the season, and from the first time we started testing we have been reliable, which is a testament to the hard work put in by everyone in the team, and our partners.

“But now we are working on making the car quicker and improving the gap to the established teams – we are getting there, and this weekend, and at Silverstone, we're looking to take more steps forward.

“Turkey is a track the drivers like as it presents a good challenge – some high and low speed corners, and the famous triple apex corner eight all test the balance of the car, and the aero performance.

“It's always a challenge for the engineers and the drivers to set up the car so it's going to be an interesting weekend here – we have very experienced people throughout the team, so I'm confident we'll put on a good show.

“I wouldn't say Istanbul Park either suits, or doesn't suit our car, and I think we'll be pretty much where we were in Barcelona, but with we are looking to take another step forward with the next batch of updates on the car.”

Mike Gascoyne, the Lotus Chief Technical Officer, also thinks the updates will take the team another step closer to the midfield runners. “Looking back on Spain and Monaco we've taken a good step forward in those races and here in Turkey we're looking to keep on improving and racing the cars in front, not those behind.

“We'll be using our new pillar mounted rear wing here, and have some new parts which will enable us to optimise the weight distribution, so again, I'm quietly confident we'll bridge the gap to those in front that little bit more.”

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David is an occasional contributer to the site on matters related to Formula 1. You can follow him on twitter at @Dr_Bean.
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