Lotus believe Heikki Kovalainen could have beaten Pastor Maldonado again had he not been slowed by technical problems in Turkey.
| Heikki Kovalainen | Jarno Trulli | |
| Qualifying position | 18 | 19 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 1’28.780 (-0.893) | 1’29.673 |
| Race position | 19 | 18 |
| Laps | 56/58 | 57/58 |
| Pit stops | 3 | 3 |
Lotus drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):
| 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 | 57 | 58 | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 103.531 | 97.37 | 96.52 | 96.825 | 97.346 | 96.237 | 95.993 | 96.413 | 96.477 | 97.023 | 98.668 | 97.788 | 99.189 | 97.846 | 97.935 | 113.475 | 95.53 | 95.038 | 95.261 | 95.175 | 96.089 | 94.871 | 95.093 | 95.182 | 95.006 | 95.273 | 95.431 | 95.166 | 96.13 | 95.648 | 96.643 | 110.809 | 93.799 | 93.887 | 93.849 | 93.677 | 93.395 | 95.568 | 93.818 | 94.09 | 94.404 | 94.485 | 93.791 | 93.654 | 94.001 | 94.089 | 94.775 | 94.831 | 95.565 | 97.533 | 99.126 | 99.408 | 100.091 | 116.399 | 92.695 | 93.462 | ||
| Jarno Trulli | 104.673 | 97.045 | 97.043 | 97.006 | 96.454 | 96.389 | 96.078 | 96.393 | 96.443 | 97.501 | 97.874 | 99.34 | 98.647 | 112.658 | 94.974 | 94.814 | 94.901 | 94.68 | 94.979 | 94.912 | 94.802 | 94.789 | 95.168 | 96.265 | 96.212 | 112.432 | 94.328 | 94.198 | 94.124 | 94.144 | 95.922 | 94.392 | 94.465 | 94.312 | 95.701 | 94.355 | 94.586 | 94.455 | 95.436 | 111.567 | 94.254 | 93.696 | 93.185 | 93.019 | 93.28 | 93.787 | 93.483 | 93.355 | 92.862 | 93.19 | 94.28 | 95.15 | 95.973 | 94.72 | 94.172 | 94.293 | 96.713 |
Heikki Kovalainen
Kovalainen was pleased with his “right on the money” qualifying lap. He was half-a-second away from making it into Q2.
He got up to 15th at the start but was passed by Sebastien Buemi, Kamui Kobayashi and Jaime Alguersuari in the opening laps.
He tried to run a two-stop strategy but his lap times dropped off badly towards the end of the race and he had to make an extra stop. A hydraulic problem meant his DRS and differential weren’t working properly.
Chief technical officer Mika Gascoyne said that without his problems, Kovalainen would have been able to beat Pastor Maldonado again:
“We were concerned that he would not be able to get to the end, and that if his tyres went off he would be unable to stop again but we were forced to keep him on two stops and turn off the differential and clutch off which made his car very difficult to handle.
“Without that, I think we would have been able to beat Maldonado on the track.”
Heikki Kovalainen 2011 form guide
Jarno Trulli
Trulli also had DRS problems. His surfaced in qualifying, explaining his deficit to Kovalainen of almost nine tenths of a second.
He ran a conventional three-stop strategy and inherited 18th place from his struggling team mate, finishing almost half a minute behind Maldonado.
2011 Turkish Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Team Lotus
F1iLike
9th May 2011, 11:41
Turn off the differential? That’s odd
Heikki is doing really well! As do Lotus of course!
timi (@timi)
9th May 2011, 11:46
wow, talk about extreme measures!!!
anyway, kov clearly still has quite a bit of talent and did very well for an over 20-lap stint. very glad the lotus boys are catching up to the ailing williams.
i think a lot of the credit should go to kovalainen and trulli, two such experienced drivers must give great input and analysis on how the car is and where it needs to improve. kudos
BasCB (@bascb)
9th May 2011, 12:32
Impressive car nursing then by Heikki. Just goes to show how hard it it, just to make these systems work properly.
I must say, HRT are doing a fine job with avoiding technical glitches so far.
Zecks (@zecks)
9th May 2011, 13:36
the parts are under less stress when cornering at half the speed of the front runners
Philonso (@philonso)
9th May 2011, 17:59
hello exaggeration!
Douglas62500
9th May 2011, 13:18
That’s not bad at all considering all those problems they had. Let’s just hope that their upcoming updates for Barcelona would not cause them too much trouble, especially on the exhausts, as Virgin and Williams did.
Eggry (@eggry)
9th May 2011, 13:40
If they bring 0.5 secs as Mike said, they could hunt some of mid field teams.
Eggry (@eggry)
9th May 2011, 13:41
sorry. 0.8 secs in Spain.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
9th May 2011, 16:23
They are gaining more confident every race they race.Keep up the good work,among the new team they are the best looking in the pack.
Fixy (@)
9th May 2011, 16:39
Trulli seems to have problems every practice/qualifying/race. Glad to see him ahead of Heikki.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
9th May 2011, 20:47
Q2 is still gonna be a tall order for them even with a good update. With Kobayashi out of qualifying early on, this was their best shot. If no one has a mechanical problem, then they’ll have to beat at least two established drivers to make Q2, not just one driver as they would’ve had to here.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
9th May 2011, 22:38
They’re getting there. I think it’s a little early to expect them to be beating Maldonado consistently.
Mack41 (@mack41)
10th May 2011, 5:03
Well it seems they’re almost there. They should have added KERS though; its only worth .3 per lap but they’re close to Maldonado. IF they have equivalent/better performance in relation to the rest of the field next year KERS is a must and they will be mixing it up.
The New Pope
11th May 2011, 4:45
I love Caterham F1!