F1: Lotus Names 2012 F1 Car The E20

Formula 1

F1: Lotus Names 2012 F1 Car The E20

Team boss Eric Boullier notes Enstone history...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted January 27, 2012 Balen (BEL)

Eric Boullier, Team Principal, Lotus Renault GP. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The new Lotus F1 car is to be called the E20, as it will be the 20th car to be designed at the factory in Enstone, England under the Benetton, Renault and now Lotus names.

It had previously been referred to as the R32 – at least in Tweets from driver Romain Grosjean – but that type number was obviously related to Renault’s heritage.

Team boss Eric Boullier explained: “Our naming of the chassis to recognize Enstone’s importance to the team’s evolution highlights our recognition of the contribution of the facility and the personnel who work tirelessly every year to produce the very best car possible.

“We certainly hope that this is the case with the E20 and we are looking forward to revealing the car to the world and seeing it out on track for the first time. There are a number of technical changes from last year and we have an exciting new driver line-up to extract the maximum from the E20 through the twenty Grands Prix of the 2012 season, including the 500th race for this team through its different incarnations. We hope that the E20 proves to be a performing Enstone design.”

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.