F1: Lotus Keeps Option Open On New ‘DDRS’ System

Formula 1

F1: Lotus Keeps Option Open On New ‘DDRS’ System

Lotus is hard at work on upgrades to the E20 car...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted August 24, 2012 Balen (BEL)

The Lotus E20 car has been fast all season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Lotus technical director James Allison says that the team has yet to decide whether to use Spa to debut the ‘double DRS’ tested by Kimi Raikkonen on the Fridays of the last two Grands Prix.

Allison added that the team has been hard at work either side of the summer shutdown.

“It’s been a slightly odd break as the gap between Hungary and Spa is so long relative to what we’ve had in recent years,” he explained. “Previously you would have stopped at the end of one race, had two weeks off, then been straight back into another.

“This time there has been a fallow period of a week either side of the shutdown. The team is impatient to be back at the track and racing the E20, but we have certainly welcomed the extra days of manufacturing since Hungary for the new parts we’ve been creating.

“A big focus has been getting ready for Monza which is immediately after Spa, and requires a unique downforce 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.

Regarding the name of the latest development, Allison joked: “I rather like ‘The Device’ as it has a sort of Dr. Strangelove appeal to it, but most people refer to it as DDRS.”

Allison is confident that the E20 will be competitive at Spa, rain or shine.

“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 said. "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 tire into its temperature operating window. Should we have the same situation at Spa, the nature of the corners and the loadings on the tires 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.”

Meanwhile, Allison says there is still plenty more to come from Lotus this year, as it plans to introduce more new parts in the latter half of the season that it might normally do.

“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.

“This late season freedom was paid for by having conducted a more intense development program for next year’s car earlier on this year. 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.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.