Lotus development 'doubled'

Enstone team ready for renewed development push over rest of season

Lotus say they enter the defining phase of the season with double the amount of development planned for their E20 compared to previous years as they chase what has so far proved an elusive 2012 win.

After several victory near-misses already this season, including at the last round before the summer break in Hungary when Kimi Raikkonen finished just one second adrift of race winner Lewis Hamilton, Lotus are targeting an even stronger second half to the campaign with a series of development parts already planned for their car - including the expected full introduction of their double DRS system next weekend at Spa.

James Allison, the team's Technical Director, says a change in the way they manage their development workload between this year's and next year's cars has freed up more scope to continue developing the current model right through the season, while not sacrificing focus on the 2013 challenger.

"This late season freedom was paid for by having conducted a more intense development program for next year's car earlier on this year."We've structured our development of this year's and next year's cars differently to the last few seasons to leave us with more than double our traditional post-shutdown development on the current car," he said.

"Hopefully this approach should pay dividends for the development of both cars. The E20 certainly hasn't fallen behind relative to our opposition, and next year's car is looking promising at this stage."

One of the key developments Lotus have been working on in recent months is their version of Mercedes' double DRS, which they trialled on Raikkonen's car in first practice in both Germany and Hungary. But unlike their Brackley rivals' system, Lotus's device is designed to provide a straight-line speed boost even when the DRS wing is disengaged and is therefore likely to be a potent weapon for the high-speed straights present at both Spa and the following race at Monza.

Asked what new parts the team were bringing to the car, Allison replied: "Quite a lot of different bits. A big focus has been getting ready for Monza which is immediately after Spa and requires a unique down-force package.

"It's only one race but it requires a whole new set of wings and a disproportionate amount of work. We've also been focusing on ensuring that we have the capability to run the new device in Spa should we be confident enough to do so."

The planned introduction of the so-called double DRS device means Lotus, whose E20 car is already one of the most competitive in high-speed corners, is being tipped by many to finally break their victory duck next weekend in Belgium.

Allison acknowledges that the Spa layout plays to the E20's strengths, but says much will depend on how the Ardennes region's fickle weather behaves over the race weekend.

"If it's a dry weekend Spa fits the category of circuit at which we are most confident, so all of us are excited to be going there," he admitted.

"If it's a wet weekend it's a much more open question; for all teams, not just for us. It frequently rains at Spa, so we have to be prepared for that possibility. We've had various wet experiences so far this season, with the inclement weather coming mainly in qualifying. At Silverstone we were okay in wet conditions, but in Germany we struggled to get the wet tyre into its temperature operating window.

"Should we have the same situation at Spa, the nature of the corners and the loadings on the tyres should be sufficient to generate enough heat in the rubber, so we're not unduly concerned. We would prefer a dry weekend, but we should be competitive whatever the weather."

The Enstone-based outfit's bid to claim their first win since 2008 had been hampered prior to Hungary by middling Qualifying performances but team boss Eric Boullier feels Romain Grosjean's front-row start in Budapest shows good progress is now being made.

"You can never have too much improvement in Formula 1, but it is fair to say we've made good steps in the right direction," Boullier said.

"Both cars were in the top five in Budapest. If we can produce just a slightly better performance for the rest of the season then we will be in a position to fight for the win."