James Allison: “Profound Changes”

How will 2012 be different from the previous year?

« If you only skim through the regulations, you may see few differences compared to last year, but they contain profound changes.

The most notable concerns the exhausts. The teams decided, at Silverstone in 2011, that we would put an end to blown diffusers, and this alone requires a very different design concept.

The designs of the cars lately have been heavily influenced by the configuration of the exhausts, and the intention of the regulation is to put an end to this.

The rules regarding the geometry of exhausts have themselves been reinforced by rules on engine operation that do not appear in the technical regulations but were communicated to us by a Technical Directive quite late last year.

The exhaust issue, which was supposedly resolved at Silverstone, persisted until mid-November. As such, the challenge was to navigate through the fog, because the uncertainty on this matter lasted for quite a while, during which we tried to make the best of each regulation version, while attempting to predict which version would be chosen. This was an area of concern for us, as well as for the rest of the grid, I imagine.

To what extent will the new regulations influence the result on the track?

« Last year’s cars had a certain variety in the design of their exhausts, with varying levels of success. If the regulations have succeeded in reducing the importance of the exhausts to a really lower level, it is an opportunity to rethink the entire set. »

What are your impressions of the two new drivers?

« Romain delivered two very promising sessions at the end of the season, given that he hadn’t driven an F1 for almost two years. As soon as he got into the car, he was as competitive as our two main drivers at that time, quite impressively. I think the road was long for him to finally get this seat. So we are considering a very good start with him. Kimi’s recent tests in Valencia, with the R30, have shown that he hasn’t lost any of his speed, and that the upcoming season excites him greatly. It will be great for us to work with a driver of this quality. »

What is completely new and more classic about the E20?

« It depends on where you look. Some parts of the car have been completely redesigned, while in other areas, we have optimized the best of the design philosophy we have adopted over several seasons. Regarding the exhausts, the forward-facing ones we had last year would be illegal under the new regulations and didn’t meet our expectations anyway. So for this part, we have started from scratch and completely redesigned it.

The front and rear suspensions are substantially revised to offer us better aerodynamic possibilities.

The front wing follows the continuity of the concept we have been working on since the publication of the 2009 regulations. For the rear wing, we have tried to achieve a satisfactory level of downforce stability while maintaining maximum potential for the DRS.

What performances do you expect from the E20?

« We have worked hard on the car. We have tried to cope with the regulatory framework that was not published, but we can only really start to have an opinion when we see the car running in pre-season. And even then, we will only really know during qualifying in Melbourne. »

Lotus F1 Team Press Release