Kimi's new gun

Kimi's new gun 

Iltasanomat 

29.1.2013 (paper edition) 

Lotus presented their new car. IS Urheilu presents the changes made to Kimi Räikkönen's ride: 

Passive DRS 

Mercedes invented the so called DRS-system before last season. The system linked to the opening backwing is now banned, but a so called passive DRS is still allowed. Lotus, Mercedes, Red Bull and Sauber tried that one out already during the second half of last season. However no team has yet got the mechanism so reliable that it could have been used in a race. It's evaluated that it would increase the speed on straights and fast corners about 5-8 kilometers per hour. The passive DRS was not installed in the presentation car. 

A more robust chassis 

They have had to pay extra attention to the strenght of the new chassis in Lotus technical department, because FIA ordered once again more strict crash tests. The F1-car has to get through the new tests both from the sides and from the back. 

More red 

Kimi Räikkönen's car has got clearly more red color on the side, the engine cover and on both front- and backwings. They still hope in the Lotus-camp that Honeywell would decide to become their main sponsor. They have left room for the ads in places where it says at the moment "Kimi" and "Genii" on a red surface. 

Different tires 

Pirelli has changed this season's tires into more softer. The tires are consumed faster so that they can once again bring back the element of surprise with more pitstops. Pirelli's boss Hembery believes that the laptimes will improve from 0,5 - 0,8 seconds just because of the tires. 

New sponsors 

Burn's logo is visible at the front of the frontwing and also on the sides. A much smaller sponsor is the American tv-channel CNBC. 

Heavier car 

They raised the F1-car's plus the driver's minimum weight from 640 kg to 642 kg, because the new tires weigh more than before. The rear tires weigh 700 gram and the front tires weigh 300 gram more than they did last season. 

Stronger frontwing 

The teams have constantly searched for an aerodynamic advantage with different inventions that make the front wings more flexible. This season teams have to make sure that the front wings are stronger, because FIA will in the future do tests measuring the strain of the wings from two different places. 

Lotus hasn't removed their step-like front which almost every F1-car had last season. Now the teams are allowed to add a small sloping plate just for cosmetic reasons. According to James Allison the team will cover up the step only if it's a better solution aerodynamically.

Fonte: Ilta-Sanomat (edição impressa) / Tradução para o Inglês: Nicole

Bacana este texto que analisa mais detalhadamente o carro da Lotus para a temporada 2013. Ele fala sobre o DRS passivo, as pequenas mudanças de peso, sobre os novos pneus a possibilidade de ainda mais patrocínio para a equipe.

E é claro, com relação ao bico (horroroso) que James Allison declarou no dia do lançamento, que só permanecerá com o "degrau" se for uma melhor solução aerodinâmica.

Bom, só os testes vão poder afirmar isto. Esperemos!

Beijinhos, Ludy