Monthly Archives: September 2011

Lotus Renault has announced that it has split with Nick Heidfeld after reaching a settlement.

Bruno Senna is now free to finish the 2011 season for the team, LRGP has also confirmed, with Romain Grosjean as third driver.

A statement said: “Lotus Renault GP and Nick Heidfeld have reached an amicable settlement today and have chosen to part company with immediate effect. This announcement enables both parties to bring the matter to a close and concentrate on their respective sporting challenges in the future.

“Our disagreement with Nick has been the subject of much media coverage lately,” said Eric Boullier. “And we are pleased to have reached a swift and reasonable solution. Our separation process was already a painful one, and neither of us wanted to go through another legal hearing.

“We’re very grateful to Nick for the highly valuable contribution he’s made to the team. We certainly had good times together, in particular remembering our podium finish in Malaysia. He is a very strong and determined racer and we wish him every success in the future.”

“Obviously I’m disappointed to be leaving Lotus Renault GP in the middle of the season,” said Heidfeld. “I thought I could still make a big contribution to the team, but I have to see things as they are and I want to turn my attention to the future. We have taken the right decision by choosing to end our collaboration today. I would like to wish all the friends I made at Enstone a successful end to the season. One thing is for sure – I’ll be back racing at the highest level soon.”

The team added that “both parties consider the matter settled and will refrain from making any further public statements on the issue in the future.”

Jenson Button says that deciding on a set-up for Monza will be more complicated than ever this year, with DRS now added to the mix.

Last year Button went for high downforce in qualifying while Lewis Hamilton went for a more traditional approach. Button nearly won the race, but didn’t quite have the straightline speed to defeat Fernando Alonso come the race.

Now teams have to take DRS into account when gearing the car and deciding how much overall downforce to run. The less downforce, the smaller the relative gain when the DRS wing is deployed.

“It’s going to be the usual difficult trade-off between drag and downforce to find the ultimate package for the race,” said Button. “Last year, Lewis and I opted to follow two different paths – Lewis went for the low downforce configuration and I went for more grip, at the expense of straightline speed. That meant that, although I had the lap time, I didn’t quite have the opportunity to mount an attack for the lead, because I couldn’t get close enough along the straights to have a go into the braking areas.

“But I think things will be a little more mixed-up this year. For the second time this season, we’ll have two distinct DRS zones, with two potential passing opportunities. The first zone’s going to be interesting because it’s always been very tough to challenge for position under braking for Ascari – the track’s pretty narrow and it’s a fast entry – so I’ll be really interested to see how well DRS will work into that corner – we might see some pretty spectacular moves!”

Button believes that passing is more likely at the first chicane: “I think the more conventional passing opportunity will come from the second DRS zone, getting as close as possible into Parabolica, holding on through the corner – which won’t be straightforward – and then deploying DRS down the start/finish straight before, hopefully, passing into Turn One.

“The DRS is going to be a pretty major asset for a following car, and it might shape the race in some really interesting ways.”

Not everyone will find the FondTech E-11's lines attractive...

The push towards a future for electric racing cars continues to gather momentum with the announcement by FondTech of its E-11, described by the Italian company as the world’s first purpose-built electric single seater.

The car has been designed by FondTech boss Jean-Claude Migeot and his team with an eye on the FIA’s Formula E category, which has been proposed for 2013, but for which which no firm regulations exist as yet. Intriguingly, the E-11 features four wheel drive.

The company says: “The project can be traced back to early computer simulations carried out in 2009 before the project was officially signed off in May 2010. Since then CFD research has continued, a 60% scale model wind tunnel-developed and the chosen motor/gearbox assembly bench tested. Chassis manufacture has also begun ahead of the car’s first track test in January 2012.

“E-11 is intended to match the performance figures of current-specification Formula 3 cars over a 20-minute duration around any existing circuit in the world. It is the challenges posed by such figures, as well as the car’s conception as the first ground-up electric single-seater, that has seen the E-11 depart from established design philosophy.”

Migeot says that the clean sheet of paper approach made for an interesting challenge.

“With a reputation built on aerodynamics, this adventure into a new sphere of motorsport has allowed FondTech to develop a concept unencumbered by regulations but at the same time bound by the current level of battery technology,” said the Frenchman. “Range and weight were always going to provide our biggest obstacles which is why aero efficiency has played such a key role in this project.

“E-11 also includes a number of innovative features, like four wheel-drive, which we believe are essential to extracting the most potential from electric racing cars. Due to the limitations of existing batteries, and in helping restore motorsport’s value as the proving ground of tomorrow’s road car technology, it was imperative that our imagination was not restricted. I am hopeful the FIA will appreciate this pioneering spirit when framing their own regulations in the coming months.”

The company has released the following video which demonstrates that – thanks to the batteries being under the driver – the car has a somewhat unusual top heavy look to it…