Jarno Trulli says he will be able to use Lotus’s new power steering again in Monza.
The upgrade, which Trulli used for the first time in Hungary, was taken off the car in Belgium as it wasn’t powerful enough. However Trulli will be able to use it for next weekend’s race in Italy.
Trulli said: “The car felt really good in Spa, and I know we have the revised power steering system I used in Hungary back for this race, so I think we’ll be ok.
“We had very strong race pace in Belgium, and if we can carry on like that in Italy we’ll be just fine.”
Team principal Tony Fernandes said the team don’t expect to be challenging the midfield at the power circuit:
“This weekend we are not going to be challenging the teams ahead quite yet in outright pace, but clever use of strategy and very strong drives from both Heikki and Jarno gives us a chance to hold our own in the race, so the target for Monza has to be to maintain the reliability record established in Spa and look for another two car finish at the chequered flag, as high as we can reasonably hope.”
2010 Italian Grand Prix
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
2nd September 2011, 17:00
F1 2011 Achievement Unlocked: “Trulli Relieved…”
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
2nd September 2011, 17:13
For the benefit of those not on Twitter…
http://twitter.com/MagnificentGeof/statuses/109637450699251713
http://twitter.com/f1fanatic_co_uk/statuses/109637746221518848
Fixy (@)
2nd September 2011, 18:43
F1 Online Achievement unlocked: “Save your money” (Take the power steering away from one of your drivers for one race)
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd September 2011, 23:22
Thanks for posting. I had a really great time reading up on those!
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
3rd September 2011, 2:49
Fun reading them.
Mike
3rd September 2011, 7:17
Hilarious stuff :D
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
5th September 2011, 19:30
F1 2011 achievement: Lotus war: Improve your Lotus power steering and beat the other ‘Lotus’.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
3rd September 2011, 12:56
Brilliant stuff! Made me chuckle.
Franton
2nd September 2011, 17:15
So of all the development work they could have been doing, is effort wasted on the steering thanks to this guy. I was never a Trulli fan, esp. during his trulli train days but he just needs to go.
DVC
2nd September 2011, 20:32
With the high Gs an F1 car pulls, I simply amazed that they didn’t have power steering in the first place. Surely it shouldn’t take an F1 team 2 seasons to develop something that has been standard on road cars for decades. Trulli was right to harp on this.
John H
2nd September 2011, 23:15
Comparing F1 power steering to road cars is ridiculous.
DVC
3rd September 2011, 22:00
If you want to ridicule the comparison, go ahead.
Surely you must acknowledge though that power steering has been around for a while and as such would be fairly well understood.
UKfanatic (@)
2nd September 2011, 23:51
You got it all wrong DVC, they have power steering and quite powerfull one, Trulli complaints that the power sterring is so strong that he cant feel any feedback from the steering. F1 cars cant run without it every once in a while some car has an hydraulic failure and its left out without the PS what happened to the lotus team last season end of story the driver could steer the wheel
DVC
3rd September 2011, 21:55
Ok, thanks for that.
dfektor
7th September 2011, 18:25
they can run without it. i remember about 10 years ago, teams like minardi didnt have power steering, and then it was considered a big in-season update when they reveived a power steering update. DVC is right, power steering has been around for road and racing cars for so so long, how can lotus get it so wrong? surely it is one of the more simple setups in the car. i dont get how trulli cant come to grips with it but kovaleinen can, as koveleinen was a crap driver at mclaren, while trulli was great previously at Renault and Toyota, it seems like their form has reversed at this team.
Mike
3rd September 2011, 7:19
I think Trulli didn’t like how the power steering unit made the car “feel”. I think it’s fair enough that he would like one that suits him.
Alianora La Canta
2nd September 2011, 17:21
Jarno needs more power steering after it had already been upgraded? Good thing he’s resigned for Lotus because I don’t think he’s going to be too popular with the mechanics :(
This next upgrade had better work…
montreal95 (@montreal95)
2nd September 2011, 18:58
You didn’t read the article carefully. It said that the power steering system used in Hungary wasn’t powerful enough for a circuit like Spa so they had to take it off(this was also mentioned in Team Lotus press release after the race). They’ve now made it stronger, so it’s good to go for Monza which is the same type of track as Spa regarding this matter.
James Williams
3rd September 2011, 12:05
Kind of sick of hearing Trulli mention power steering. Time for him to go.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
3rd September 2011, 12:59
Why? Do you think any other driver would complain less when he feels he can’t control the car as he would like? These guys are designed around the drivers. It’s a bit weird it’s taken so long for Lotus to sort it.
OzF
3rd September 2011, 13:15
Team Lotus are trying to build their car, for that they need drivers that give them real feedback and that is what Triulli is doing. Although I must say, him mentioning it less to the media would be nice.
maxthecat
4th September 2011, 12:49
This is a bit like blaming your 360 pad when you’re hopeless at a game. Trulli has always been full of excuses and if i were Lotus i’d be saying goodbye to him at the end of the year.