If you’ve been watching F1 in 2014, you’ve probably noticed how Lotus went from being an actual contender, to being one of the bottom teams by having a disastrous start to their season.
The E23 Hybrid will hopefully reverse their fortunes, which is something they need dearly after scoring just 10 points last year – quite a departure from the 315 points (just 45 points short of 2nd place Mercedes) they had at the end of the 2013 season.
We’re guessing that the new car will indeed perform better mainly because they have given up on Renault engines and partnered up with Mercedes.
Lotus F1 CEO Matthew Carter said that the E23 Hybrid “represents a new era for Lotus F1 Team, not only in the change to a Mercedes-Benz Power Unit, but also it is the fruition of a busy winter behind the scenes. Improvements within our design, aero and simulation departments have all contributed to the development of a car which is a huge step forward.”
Team Technical Director, Nick Chester added that the Mercedes power unit will not be just about better performance but also “reliability and driveability as well as packaging and cooling too”. Are those some very specific shots fired at last years Renault engine? We think so.
Last years’ E22 model did deliver some good results in the wind tunnel according to Chester, but unfortunately for them it wasn’t enough to help them throughout the season.
Fresh off their twitter feed, we’ve also learned that the Mercedes engine used in their all-new E23 Hybrid is the latest version of the power unit – so it’s not like Mercedes dusted off one of their old engines and handed it to Lotus.
This is going to be a huge boost to a team which is actually pretty loaded talent wise with Roman Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, two young and extremely productive drivers. They should have a strong year.
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