Sunday, 4 January 2015

Technical departures in 2013 caused Lotus performance slump in 2014

(Alastair Staley for the Lotus F1 Team)

The Lotus F1 Team’s Head of Trackside Operations Alan Permane has blamed the outfit’s poor form in 2014 on the departure of key technical personnel from the outfit at the end of the 2013 season. 

The Enstone outfit had an extremely disappointing 2014 season which saw the team score just ten points.

The team lost a number of key figures to Ferrari at the end of the 2013 season including technical director James Allison and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk De Beer.

Permane felt that losing James Allison was a big hit to the team and he described the Englishman as a ‘leader’. He felt the sudden changes didn’t help the team as when they got replacements in, some like current technical director Nick Chester ‘in house’ it took time for the new personnel to gel together as a team and this cost the team on the track.

Permane pointed to the fact that the previous technical team at Enstone headed up by Allison had worked together for a number of years so bringing in new personnel meant that it would take longer for things to come together.

The Englishman is confident however that this season will be different and will see the team challenge for podium finishes with their brand new Mercedes power unit. The team are hoping to see a resurgence similar to that of rivals, the Williams Martini Racing Team

© Ben Johnston 2015



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