Lotus became the first ‘second year’ team to beat an established team in a straight fight.
| Heikki Kovalainen | Jarno Trulli | |
| Qualifying position | 19 | 20 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 1’37.894 (-0.424) | 1’38.318 |
| Race position | 16 | 19 |
| Laps | 55/56 | 55/56 |
| Pit stops | 2 | 2 |
Lotus drivers’ lap times throughout the race:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 116.493 | 108.117 | 107.549 | 106.457 | 106.802 | 106.184 | 105.893 | 107.248 | 107.219 | 106.702 | 106.117 | 106.744 | 106.661 | 106.456 | 106.115 | 107.934 | 107.139 | 107.053 | 111.202 | 123.719 | 105.5 | 105.207 | 104.48 | 104.685 | 104.858 | 104.133 | 104.271 | 103.826 | 104.035 | 104.113 | 104.197 | 103.718 | 104.232 | 104.619 | 103.979 | 104.321 | 104.437 | 104.837 | 104.716 | 108.564 | 121.812 | 103.654 | 103.065 | 102.71 | 102.672 | 102.917 | 105.099 | 104.629 | 103.2 | 103.456 | 103.31 | 105.169 | 103.297 | 102.817 | 103.685 | |
| Jarno Trulli | 116.772 | 108.569 | 107.305 | 107.046 | 106.578 | 106.457 | 105.987 | 107.159 | 108.318 | 107.207 | 107.241 | 106.692 | 106.394 | 106.409 | 106.868 | 107.178 | 106.711 | 107.742 | 107.29 | 113.515 | 124.368 | 104.704 | 104.407 | 104.532 | 104.407 | 105.69 | 104.251 | 104.008 | 104.135 | 104.141 | 104.082 | 104.118 | 104.255 | 104.28 | 104.799 | 104.815 | 104.868 | 105.594 | 105.649 | 105.273 | 105.47 | 111.61 | 123.764 | 104.164 | 104.889 | 104.384 | 102.636 | 105.721 | 103.358 | 102.857 | 105.234 | 102.311 | 102.052 | 102.776 | 103.134 |
Heikki Kovalainen
In the cool conditions of qualifying Kovalainen was over a second and a half slower than the Williamses.
But in warmer temperatures on race day Lotus proved able to compete with other established teams on merit for the first time ever.
Kovalainen’s two-stop strategy got him ahead of Pastor Maldonado and he finished the race in front of the Williams and the delayed Sauber of Sergio Perez.
Kovalainen described it as “our best ever performance.
“It’s not the highest place we’ve had but today we beat two midfield cars in a straight fight so I am very happy, with my performance and the performance of the whole team.
“We knew we would struggle in the cool conditions yesterday but today the temperatures rose and we expected to be able to put in the sort of race that would do justice to the pace that is in the car.”
Heikki Kovalainen 2011 form guide
Jarno Trulli
Continues to have problems with tyre degradation. Qualified behind Kovalainen and finished in 19th.
Luiz Razia
Drove in Trulli’s place in first practice. Damaged his front wing following what the team described as a “suspension problem”.
2011 Chinese Grand Prix
Image © Team Lotus
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl)
18th April 2011, 15:08
Thank you for that. Not really joining the midfield looking at circumstances. A wrong strategy from Williams (running twice on primes) and penalties imposed on the Sauber made the so called “joining”, not the performance.
Aetost (@aetost)
18th April 2011, 15:19
It’s all part of the game, strategies, penalties, car performance.
I agree that Lotus is not quite there yet, but they ‘re definitely on the right track. And don’t forget that both Sauber and Williams are large and experienced outfits.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
18th April 2011, 15:47
plus they are not running KERS.
James
18th April 2011, 15:19
Well you say that, but lap times were comparable. Supposedly, Trulli’s quickest time in the race yesterday was ahead of Alonso’s, in a Ferrari. Now, you dont need to be a hardcore fan to appreciate that a feat such as that isnt half bad.
Perhaps in Barcalona Lotus may join the fray in Q2 when they expect to make a big jump forward with an upgrade package.
Massive congratulations on Lotus and Heikki, 16th out of 23 cars running at the finish. I would say that qualifies the claim that they are midfield team, finishing in the middle of the pack
Fixy (@)
18th April 2011, 15:28
At least a small team like Lotus can be happy to have developed a better strategy than Ferrari.
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl)
19th April 2011, 9:38
I’m just a fan of taking facts for what they are, not for somebody wishes them to be. It wasn’t “a straight fight with midfield teams”, not yet.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th April 2011, 9:56
Doing well in F1 is not just about car performance. It’s about strategic performance and driver performance too. This was a straight fight.
Mr draw
18th April 2011, 15:22
I don’t think you can blame the tyre-strategy for Williams’ dismal performance. Lotus was just quicker in the race, or the Lotus was more “tyre-friendly”.
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th April 2011, 7:55
You are right, in both cases, Lotus then did the better job with Kovalainen than Williams did with Maldonado.
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl)
19th April 2011, 9:45
No, not really. Maldonado was running on primes for about half of the race, 3 stops. Heikki not even a third, 2 stops. Do the math. Even the Red Bulls were easy targets on primes, so I think Keith is totally right about strategy giving Kovalainen the upper hand over Maldonado. 2 stop strategy or one sting on primes instead of two would have put Maldonado out of Heikki’s reach.
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl)
19th April 2011, 9:47
*sting, not sting :)
(Keith, I beg you, EDIT button!)
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl)
19th April 2011, 9:47
god d****…. stint, S T I N T.
James_mc (@james_mc)
20th April 2011, 22:12
Hahaha! That made me laugh :-D
Shomir
18th April 2011, 15:34
Kovalainen really is one of my favourite drivers now, i mean, you would expect him to be all down and out going from McLaren to Backmarker. But he really seems to like this new team and i really wish he stays with them for a long time, bringing them to the top! :)
snowman
18th April 2011, 16:39
well I guess the strength of his team mate in them two teams makes the difference.
TheVillainF1 (@thevillainf1)
18th April 2011, 15:43
great to see Team Lotus improve race by race. You can’t forget they built this team from scratch just a year ago and they do seem to have a decent package this year that in the right circumstances could bag them a few points this year. Kovalainen is absolutely driving his heart out for them as well. Trulli is disappointing though, should probably look to replace him with someone more eager next year.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
18th April 2011, 15:50
Trulli could eeeasily be replaced and no one would ever notice.
luca
19th April 2011, 11:28
He’s not so bad
SamS (@sams)
18th April 2011, 15:59
Keith I love your analysis of Lotus: Kov: 6 paragraphs, your Truli analysis: Truli turned up, was rubbish! Made me giggle!
HounslowBusGarage (@hounslowbusgarage)
18th April 2011, 16:39
Trulli is a lucky man.
Lucky to have a seat.
Eggry (@eggry)
18th April 2011, 16:56
and relatively competitive car. Look at his old mate in Virgin.
luca
19th April 2011, 11:33
14 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1:42.052
15 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:42.070
16 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 1:42.406
17 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:42.577
18 15 P. di Resta Force India 1:42.614
19 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1:42.672
Fastest laps in China
not so bad Trulli…
Andy C
18th April 2011, 17:08
Keith
on Lotus, would they be able to secure a Renault KERS package at all?
Mike mentioned earlier in the season that it was more to do with packaging than cost, but I dont know if they’d be able to recieve either package
silencer (@silencer)
18th April 2011, 17:11
If i’m not wrong, few weeks ago tony said Team Lotus will not use KERS this year.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th April 2011, 20:48
If I was them I would keep away from it this year. Concentrate on getting everything else right this year. Based on this weekends performance they don’t wanna push their luck!
driftin
18th April 2011, 17:53
Looking rather good for them. I really hope they become as successful as Red Bull in the future.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th April 2011, 20:36
Fantastic stuff from Lotus, really happy for them. Now…can they keep it up?
MattHT (@mattht)
18th April 2011, 23:16
Credit where credits due, Lotus did really well, I’m chuffed for them. Strategy and penalties are all part of the sport – get it wrong and you deserve to be punished – so Kovaleinen got his great result on merit for me :)
F1Yankee (@f1yankee)
18th April 2011, 23:28
i’m watching mike gascoyne on the bbc forum, and they’re celebrating “racing the midfield.” how are 16th and 19th racing the midfield? it’s the lowest 25% of the field. who did they beat? the only non-finisher, hrt and virgin, and 2 rookies. trulli’s fastest lap was faster than alonso’s. whippedy-doo.
Oliver
19th April 2011, 7:46
I think it is about time Trulli retires to his vineyard. Lotus should promote one of their test drivers to gain experience. Obviously, Heikki is still motivated and can lead in car development.
Points will be tough to come by but not impossible.
Kie
19th April 2011, 21:15
hmm there test drivers have been poor I seem to remember… Get Davison out the commentary box
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th April 2011, 7:58
Good to see the team keeping up the steady rising line. Trulli does seem, once again, getting a bit long in the tooth though. I have noticed there isn’t even the qualifying speciality that keeps him usually ahead of kovalainen, and though his lack of results is oddly enhanced by ongoing bad luck, even without that he doesn’t really seem to be delivering as much as his team mate. Certainly in PR, he does the worse job, I think (but maybe I’m not reading all the good Italian PR he does …).
P. Rippon
19th April 2011, 23:47
maybe the Hulk will come in place of Trulli?
Lucas "Mr. Veloce"
20th April 2011, 15:25
I am still not sure about these third driver’s in P1, maybe they should not put the third driver in for the first race P1 but from the second race onwards, in Team Lotus’ case, if Trulli finishes behind Kovalainen, he’ll get kicked out for P1 in the next race and vice versa.