Team Lotus has extended and enlarged its deal with Red Bull Technology to help the little green machine lose the tag of ‘best of the new teams’ and become a proper F1 midfield runner. Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne explains some of the details...
You may have heard of the Resource Restriction Agreement - it’s causing a few headlines and headaches within F1 as everyone tries to do more with less. One of the ways in which it seems to work quite neatly, however, is the idea of technology sharing. Many of the new teams in need of a leg-up are sourcing technology from the bigger outfits, who benefit from a revenue stream and the ability to make better use of their people, skills and technologies. Next year, HRT will run with a gearbox and KERS from Williams. Virgin are using the facilities buried deep in McLaren’s Technology Lair. Lotus, who used a gearbox from Red Bull Technology this year, have decided to extend that deal, and add to it the KERS that - despite the odd hiccup - has powered RBR to two championships. Lotus' technical boss explained to us why he’s taking that option...
Mike Gascoyne and Tony Fernandes © Team Lotus/Caterham Group
RB: Mike, last year you opted to not fit KERS, what’s changed for 2012?
MG: There were two important factors. Although this year was our second in F1, that first year was effectively run with a car built in Cologne with a group of contractors [the remnants of Toyota’s F1 programme], so 2011 has effectively been our first year for the design team. We had a new engine and a new gearbox and the challenges of those things for a small, young design team, newly formed were enough. It would have been too much to ask them to add KERS as well.
We also felt - and this has been the case - that people would struggle to make KERS reliable. And given that it would be expensive and take a huge engineering effort, if it was going to be unreliable as well, it really didn’t make any sense. For 2012, you could have taken the same view at our level. But with the new engine regulations now not due to arrive until 2014, the situation has changed. If, as was originally planned, the new specification engines were coming in 2013 we might have gone without next year but you take a different view when you’re looking at two seasons without KERS.
We’ve got a very good partner in Red Bull Technology. RBR have had issues with the system this year and had reliability trouble early one but clearly they’ve got on top of that, so it was a pretty easy decision for us to take it. The time was right.
RB: Given that you’re using Red Bull’s gearbox and Red Bull’s KERS is integrated with that, was going with the Red Bull unit the only realistic option?
MG: Their packaging is fairly unique. Sitting down with them they were able to reassure us that they fully understood the problems they’d had earlier this year and knew how to solve them. That was very important because the packaging is very elegant but also very challenging. In essence, they’ve been able to put their 2012 KERS into their 2011 box. So that, for us, was the ideal solution. I think we’re very confident that in working with them we’ll get a cost-effective and well-performing system. Ultimately, the people in front of us all have KERS and if we want to be in that midfield group - and we’re a second away now - a good chunk of that is KERS. It’ll give us a good performance boost.
RB: As you’ve suggested, RBR mount their batteries in a very harsh environment. Are you likely to have the same teething trouble they had this year?
MG: It is a very harsh environment and very difficult to cool but also if you have issues, it’s a very difficult part of the car to get to, to work on. It’s very difficult to change anything because you don’t have any space. But I think given the fact we’re running the Renault engine and the Red Bull gearbox, we shouldn’t have any issues that they haven’t already had and solved. It isn’t something I’m particularly worried about. Maybe on engine strategies we might have to do a few things but Renault will know all of that.
RB: On another topic, what do you think RBR have done right this year to keep them in front all season?
MG: I think it’s their level of aerodynamic development. In Adrian [Newey] they’ve got, as he’s proved, one of motorsports’ greatest aerodynamicists. Their aerodynamic performance is just clearly stronger. They maintained the gap. They had the outboard exhausts, the blown diffuser… clearly they were just very much on top of all of that technology. Adrian pushed the boundaries in every area.
If you look at the history of Formula One, it is always cyclic. Teams get on top and stay there for a few years, normally until that design team breaks up, and then they slip off the top. Red Bull have spent several years getting to the top, they’re now at the top of their game but they’re keeping that team together and they’re continuing to do what got them there.
RB: What do you think has changed from RBR winning closely-fought championships last year to walking away with it in 2011?
MG: To be honest, my feeling is they had a dominant car last year but there were two things in which they were nowhere near as good as they are now. One was operationally. They made mistakes and strategy calls that weren’t right. I think they’d freely admit to that and agree they’re a much slicker operation now.
The other one was they had two drivers taking points off each other. All those battles take it out of you. And as you very often see, when a driver wins for the first time it becomes very easy for him. Sebastian won the world title and suddenly everything’s easy. They’ve won the Constructors’ because both cars are finishing every race and in the Drivers’ it’s only been Sebastian who’s been winning so he’s out of sight. It makes them look very dominant. So much so when the other leading teams do catch up a bit, you tend not to notice.
But basically, if you take the best car, and you don’t f**k anything up, lo and behold you blitz the field as they have done. From this end of the pitlane it’s all looked very slick.
Team Lotus at Interlagos © Team Lotus/Caterham Group
Want more?
- Check out the Brazilian Grand Prix event page
- F1 Brazil GP – Six of the Best – The story so far
- Official F1 website formula1.com
- Brazilian Grand Prix: Qualifying
- Inside the Brazilian GP
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