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| Lotus F1 Team Technical Director James Allison looks to the season ahead and explains the changes in the Lotus E21 |
How different are the 2013 regulations compared with
2012?
After a string of quite eventful rule changes and interpretations in the years since
2009 it looks as if 2013 is going to be a year of regulatory stability. There are only a
few, very limited changes which comes as a considerable relief to the entire grid given
the size of the transformation bearing down on the sport for 2014. Mind you, even with no
changes to the text of the regulations, we never stop poring over the rules to look for
new loopholes. Quite often, young engineers fresh from university will point out an
ambiguity in the text of a regulation that has been settled for decades because they are
looking at what is written with fresh eyes and no preconceived ideas about what is
actually intended.
Will the cars we see in 2013 look much different from those we saw in
2012?
I’m guessing not. There is one rule which opens the possibility for a change as
we will now be permitted to fit a non-structural ‘vanity panel’ on the upper
surface of the nose as a means of avoiding the duck-bill style designs that we saw in
2012. However, such a panel is optional and I would not be surprised if the majority of
the grid chose not to make use of it. The panel will add a few grammes of weight and so is
only likely to run on the car if a team can find a performance benefit for doing so.
Does continuing with two drivers give the technical team
benefits?
The best thing about sticking with our 2012 pairing is that they are both fast! Fringe
benefits also include not having to re-invent the seat, pedals, steering wheel and so on.
Not having to establish fresh relationships between engineers and drivers is also
welcome.
What is completely new and what is more familiar on the
E21?
Depending on where you look, some parts of the new car are a ground-up redesign and in
other areas we have further optimised the best bits of the design philosophy we’ve
adopted for several seasons. The front and rear suspension layouts are substantially
revised to try and give us better aerodynamic opportunities. The front wing is a
continuation of the concepts we have worked on since the 2009 rules were published. For
the rear wing system, we’ve continued to try to work on having a satisfactory level
of rear downforce stability whilst having maximum DRS switching potential.
Talking of DRS; what about the so-called Double DRS
Device?
This is an area we continue to work on and the passive nature of the switching of our
device means it is not outlawed by the latest regulations. It is not something which will
be a silver bullet to transform our car, but it is something which could add performance
as part of the overall design.
Are there likely to be any further ‘secret weapons’ in the arsenal
for 2013?
That would be telling.
Does the E21 have great expectations on its shoulders?
The E20 proved itself to be an effective racing car, so there is an element of
expectation from the E21. We have continued with our design themes and tried to build a
more efficient and faster racing car based on all the lessons we learnt last year. How
successful we have been at this we will only know once we take to the track at Grands
Prix.
