The Lotus cars ran with the ‘Team Lotus’ logos changed to read ‘Team Loftus’, in honour of owner Tony Fernandes’s purchase of football team QPR.
| Heikki Kovalainen | Jarno Trulli | |
| Qualifying position | 16 | 18 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 2’06.780 (-1.993) | 2’08.773 |
| Race position | 15 | 14 |
| Laps | 43/44 | 43/44 |
| Pit stops | 3 | 2 |
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 | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 154.815 | 138.982 | 118.62 | 119.286 | 119.19 | 118.159 | 118.383 | 118.876 | 118.338 | 118.312 | 118.134 | 118.311 | 147.486 | 155.456 | 119.376 | 159.808 | 118.143 | 116.792 | 116.794 | 117.739 | 117.265 | 116.842 | 116.851 | 116.601 | 116.781 | 116.944 | 116.575 | 116.626 | 116.779 | 118.266 | 117.981 | 117.121 | 121.121 | 129.697 | 114.051 | 114.239 | 114.238 | 114.322 | 114.367 | 115.976 | 116.213 | 116.864 | 115.836 | |
| Jarno Trulli | 139.709 | 120.949 | 120.002 | 119.277 | 119.706 | 119.975 | 120.572 | 120.234 | 118.994 | 119.177 | 119.603 | 118.637 | 143.712 | 156.465 | 135.894 | 166.371 | 117.859 | 116.742 | 116.825 | 117.257 | 116.188 | 116.522 | 118.014 | 116.456 | 116.844 | 116.625 | 116.698 | 116.647 | 116.474 | 116.457 | 122.082 | 128.735 | 114.971 | 115.218 | 115.378 | 115.534 | 114.957 | 114.571 | 114.873 | 114.701 | 115.191 | 116.834 | 117.843 |
Heikki Kovalainen
A sterling late effort from Kovalainen in Q1 saw him improve his time despite running wide at Rivage as fresh rain fell on the track. His time was good enough to bump Paul di Resta out and secure a place in Q2.
Di Resta got down the inside of him at the first corner at the start. But when the Force India was hit by Timo Glock, Kovalainen had to take avoiding action and hit his team mate.
Kovalainen had to pit for a new front wing. He made up some ground thanks to the safety car, and passed Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jerome D’Ambrosio after which he was within four seconds of his team mate.
Rubens Barrichello appeared behind him with two laps to go but Kovalainen kept the Williams driver behind to the flag.
Heikki Kovalainen 2011 form guide
Jarno Trulli
The first-corner contact between the Lotuses damaged Trulli’s floor, so he was content to finish 14th after a brief battle with Bruno Senna:
“When the safety car came out I was able to close the gap to the cars ahead. That gave me the chance to fight with the Renault and I passed him and was then able to keep pace with the other guys ahead.
“One of the best points of the race was the first stop I made – I came in just behind one of the HRTs and the pit crew did a brilliant job to get me out fast enough to pass him in the pit lane, so I want to thank them and the whole team for a really solid weekend.”
Trulli had to make do without the new power steering introduced at Hungary as it was found not to be powerful enough to use at Spa. The team expect he will not be able to use it at Monza either.
Karun Chandhok
Drove Heikki Kovalainen’s car in first practice.
2011 Belgian Grand Prix
Image © Team Lotus
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th August 2011, 7:56
I don’t get it. Is this a reference only football fans will understand?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th August 2011, 7:58
QPR play at Loftus Road (a fact I only know because my former boss supports them!)
Alfie
29th August 2011, 8:28
Senna really didn’t do well at all in the race, his pace was similar to that he displayed in Free Practice at Hungary. Want to see some footage of Lotus v Renault :D
Fixy (@)
29th August 2011, 12:15
Despite crashing into Alguersuari he should have been higher up.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th August 2011, 8:36
And there was me thinking that Team Loftus pic was a photo shop!
Heikki had a great qualifying effort, but was only a little bit more lucky then Alguersuari at the start as he was at least able to go on to finish the race.
Looks like Lotus is still in the same position, they need to take a step forward next year again and get in touch with the midfield on pace.
DVC
29th August 2011, 9:29
Wow, what a write up for Chandhok. I bet he will be pinning that one up on his bedroom wall.
AdrianMorse
29th August 2011, 10:19
But then, his outing left such a passing impression that I had to think for a second:…Chandok, what on earth are you talking about?
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
30th August 2011, 4:35
Why wasting money in buying football clubs when that money can be invested to the teams good as they have the people who can turn this team around.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
30th August 2011, 13:34
Lotus don’t strike me as having money problems and your pockets can only be so deep when you have the RRA in place. Fernandes is a businessman before an F1 team principal.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
30th August 2011, 13:36
A good effort from Lotus this weekend and great to see Kovalainen edge out Di Resta and Trulli keep Barrichello at bay. You could argue that keeping the FW33 behind you isn’t particularly difficult but for a relatively new team it’s good news.