Lotus T128 has first run in Valencia
2011 F1 cars
The Lotus T128 has appeared for the first time in Valencia.
Heikki Kovalainen did the first lap in the car as testing began this morning.
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- Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, Valencia, 2011
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- Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Tony Fernandes, Lotus, Valencia, 2011
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- Mike Gascoyne, Tony Fernandes, Lotus, Valencia, 2011
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- Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
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- Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus T128, Valencia, 2011
Images © F1 Fanatic and Julien Leroy / firstlap.be. If you wish to use these images please contact F1 Fanatic to request permission
superted666 said on 2nd February 2011, 7:56
Some people may dislike him but he always has a great smile :)
BasCB (@bascb) said on 2nd February 2011, 8:01
Heikki or Fernandez? Or Gascoyne?
Anonymous said on 2nd February 2011, 8:31
Both of them..but i prefer Tony ‘s smile!! So enthussiasm!!
F1iLike said on 2nd February 2011, 9:23
Tony look like Bill Bailey with the hair shaved off :D Happy fella
F1iLike said on 2nd February 2011, 9:24
Not Tony… Mike!
melkurion (@melkurion) said on 2nd February 2011, 11:01
somehow tony and mike remind me of Leepu and Bernie :P
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 2nd February 2011, 8:04
The car’s just gone out on the track for the first time, saw it come past me in the pits.
SamS said on 2nd February 2011, 8:05
Stop rubbing it in!
Ben Curly said on 2nd February 2011, 8:09
Damn. Now I’m jealous ;)
Hare said on 2nd February 2011, 8:43
I’m green ( and yellow ) with envy!
Maciek said on 2nd February 2011, 9:37
Please stop Keith – I’m supposed to be working!
By the by – super coverage so far!
Paul Grainger said on 2nd February 2011, 8:13
Anyone notice that the suspension is normal on this? In the launch photos it was completely different and was missing driveshafts… no one seemed to notice…
Apex said on 2nd February 2011, 8:18
Yes. I did noticed. Maybe the launch photos is just a mock up.
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl) said on 2nd February 2011, 8:40
Probably the “launch” was online because the car was not complete on 31st and Team Lotus was desperate to show it before Renault.
BasCB (@bascb) said on 2nd February 2011, 13:05
I figure that about gets the point of the presentation.
Cyberaxiom (@dave-m) said on 2nd February 2011, 8:26
I’m interested to hear what the other teams (especially Mercedes) think about the blade roll hoop.
McLarenFanJamm (@mclarenfanjamm) said on 2nd February 2011, 8:45
It’s thicker than Merc’s version from last year. That’s how they’ve got round the regulations
Fixy (@fixy) said on 2nd February 2011, 15:22
I don’t think it brought any advantages to Mercedes last year.
Amir said on 2nd February 2011, 16:53
that because of the F-duct that we dont really see the advantage of this setup.
Paul Grainger said on 2nd February 2011, 8:27
Either that or they were in such a rush they forgot to finish putting it together! But somehow I doubt that… Man, I was getting really excited to see how the system worked without pushrods :( I even wrote a blog (www.thegrandprixblog.blogspot.com) about it :( But still, it does look very good, a lot like the Red Bull’s in fact :)
VXR said on 2nd February 2011, 8:35
The Lotus definitely looks the most like a ‘racing car’…if you get what I mean.
DANK said on 2nd February 2011, 9:36
No, I don’t
But I still think you’re wrong.
How so?
TomD11 (@tomd11) said on 2nd February 2011, 10:11
I can’t really explain why I think so but I think so too, VXR.
Oliver said on 2nd February 2011, 10:51
The yellow paint on the engine cover emphasizes the cars profile, when looked at from the size
Henry said on 2nd February 2011, 12:00
I love the yellow engine cover, very cool, pretty clever with the yellow renault incorporated, I really like the livery. They have not just re-created that same old thing, they’ve made it better!
However on a different note the prominence of the Air Asia promotion does make me worried about their confidence over the legal battle. then again, if Tiny is not going to be able to buy Group Lotus for another few years until Bahar’s investors realise what a fool he is, it makes no sense to promote them just yet!
Oliver said on 2nd February 2011, 13:12
Tony owns Air Asia.
Scribe said on 2nd February 2011, 11:28
I think it looks very chunky from the side angle. Like it’s made out of mechano.
Paul Grainger said on 2nd February 2011, 8:45
Well the midfield’s going to be so tight this year, it’s going to see its fair share of racing! Sauber, Force India, Williams, Virgin, Hispania maybe but probably not… Going to be great to watch! I reckon judging by the looks of the car and Hekki’s initial reactions, we might see the car on the podium at a crazy race (ie. a crashfest, rainfest) at some point during the year :)
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl) said on 2nd February 2011, 10:07
Meh. I think you can easily take HRT out of the mix. Also I think midfield will be divided into two groups: Williams, Force India and Sauber at the front, Toro Rosso, Team Lotus and Virgin somewhere behind. These differences should increase as the season progresses, due to certain level of development potential within the teams.
McLarenFanJamm (@mclarenfanjamm) said on 2nd February 2011, 8:46
As much as I like the livery on the T128, it’s let down by the fact they couldn’t even get sponsor decals in the same colour to put on the nose. If you look closely you can clearly see that they are a different colour to the actual paint.
Paul Grainger said on 2nd February 2011, 8:55
hahah yeah I commented on that in my blog. At the time I couldn’t tell if they were stickers or not and described the car as looking as if it had been painted by an under performing grade 12 manual arts student. That combined with the fact key suspension components and the driveshafts were missing in the launch photos tells me that they were in a bit of a rush to get it ready…
Hare said on 2nd February 2011, 9:02
Wow, talk about straining the gnat. That car is an amazing effort from a second year team. Hrt virgin, and possibly toro rosso have their work cut out!
Hare said on 2nd February 2011, 9:04
But wait! If you look closely, the decals are not quite the right colour…
Pinball said on 2nd February 2011, 9:48
I agree McLarenFanJamm. The number decal looks particularly bad, as does the huge Renault logo. Maybe it’s on purpose, maybe they’ll peel them off and there’ll be something else under them?
McLarenFanJamm (@mclarenfanjamm) said on 2nd February 2011, 10:19
haha, yeah, like their own version of the ‘JPS livery’ ;)
In seriousness, that actually looked really good, the bodged decals are probably due to the last minute change in livery
Oliver said on 2nd February 2011, 10:56
Do you chase sponsors to match your colours or do you just accept any sponsor you can get?
zecks said on 2nd February 2011, 13:28
well we can all see how that worked out for sauber! I think that while the colour scheme could be better resolved, the green combined with the unique air box at least makes for a disitinctive design. Half of the other cars are just red bulls in a different shade!
McLarenFanJamm (@mclarenfanjamm) said on 2nd February 2011, 13:46
I did say I liked the over all look of the car, the decals just spoil it a little close-up. From a distance and in the sparkling sunshine it looks sweet.
Hare said on 2nd February 2011, 8:56
Wanna see it’s back end… That’s gonna be interesting.
the-muffin-man said on 2nd February 2011, 9:23
Me too – on first looks its doesn’t look anywhere near as tightly packaged as most of the other new cars, especially the Williams.
melkurion (@melkurion) said on 2nd February 2011, 11:05
agreed, the williams deffinetly has the tightest bottom so far
Hare said on 2nd February 2011, 9:00
You know what? I like it.. For a second year car that’s a pretty damn serious package, engine, gearbox, suspension, design.
The air box is lower to allow more flow to the back wing. Dunno about the diffuser and kit, but… It’s not gonna finish last this year, it’s gonna be mixing it.
Anonymous said on 2nd February 2011, 9:02
i just cant get my eyes of the car…..the design the livery the gearbox…rear wings everything looks stunning : )
Paul Grainger said on 2nd February 2011, 9:06
Its one of the few cars that the yellow Pirelli logo’s don’t look bad on as well…
Anonymous said on 2nd February 2011, 9:08
Best looking car this season…Team Lotus, Williams, Red BUll
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 2nd February 2011, 9:19
Eh, still not a fan of that livery.
Also, the FIA entry list shows Kovalainen is #21, but here he’s #20. Is he allowed to drive a car that could be considered Trulli’s, or has his number changed? He did, after all, finish ahead of Trulli in the 2010 standings.
toddjamin said on 2nd February 2011, 9:25
he can surely drive any car he wants during testing, and they will only bring one car to the test so they have to share.
he will be back under his own number in bahrain
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl) said on 2nd February 2011, 9:27
I think during tests, when there’s only one chassis, it’s permitted. Besides, as Schumacher and Rosberg case proved, changing numbers is quite easy.
Hare said on 2nd February 2011, 9:58
I remember someone saying last year, that the Ferrari barcode was too hard to remove from all the kit, that’s why the FIA allowed it to stay on.
.. Which was rubbish of course! Bit of gaffer tape can sort anything out! :)
The Last Pope (@the-last-pope) said on 3rd February 2011, 5:58
Urmm that was me, and it was true. Do you have any idea how many items of clothing would have to be taped over? Besides, who wants to go around with tape all over them, It would also show that Ferrari were “hiding” their Marlboro sponsor rather than just not having it there. Thats an important difference for Marlboro.
Anyway I don’t see how that is relevent here. Asking the FIA to switch your driver numbers is not a problem, Lotus have been showing Heiki as #20 and Jarno as #21 which would make sense as thats where they finished last year. No doubt in the near future the final entry list will be released and their numbers will be switched.
Marc Connell said on 2nd February 2011, 9:28
love the look :) the new tyres make it look even better, if they stuck the old bridgestones back on, it would look rubbish.
The Last Pope (@the-last-pope) said on 3rd February 2011, 6:03
Somehow I don’t think it will look so good when they put on a set of pirellis which has red or blue text.