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2011 In Review: Lotus

NEWS STORY
28/12/2011

Mat Coch writes:

There is something right about green and gold. Perhaps it's the Australian in me coming through in an awkward sense of patriotism but green and gold anywhere looks good, especially on a racing car. What Team Lotus did with it this year was to produce one of the finest liveried cars of recent times, a nice simple job that linked the team with the past with its own little bit of flair.

Team Lotus was of course the team that was Lotus Racing in 2010, and in 2012 will be known as Caterham. The squabbles surrounding the Lotus name have been painful, bitter, confusing and, in all honesty, plain silly. If Colin Chapman were still around he'd be demanding an end to all the silliness, neither entity which proclaims to be Lotus is the one his dusty cap was tossed skyward for.

Basically it all means that come 2012 the paddock will no longer feature a ten foot image of Jim Clark crossing the line on the wall of a green and gold Team Lotus motor home. Shame really, I always liked that picture.

Of those at the wrong end of the grid Lotus looked the team most likely. The most likely to do what is anyone's guess but it was the only team which made any sort of progress towards where it should have been. Its 'new' team rivals in Virgin and HRT endured difficult second seasons and while Tony Fernandes is yet to celebrate his team's first point at least looked like it might get there in 2011.

If you ask any of the alleged experts they'll tell you Heikki Kovalainen drove probably the best he ever has, though for scant reward. He won in Hungary for McLaren a few years back yet it's in a dog of a car at the wrong end of the grid that he's truly displayed his value as a driver. The Finn outshone teammate Jarno Trulli and left many calling for the Italian's axing from the team in favour of one of the sport's emerging talents.

The thing about Trulli is that when he retires, or perhaps if his career peters out like it appears it will, his legacy will be simple. Nobody will remember the win in Monaco, fending off a hungry Jenson Button. Nobody will remember his blistering qualifying laps or that Austrian Grand Prix in 1997 when he drove the wheels off his Prost. We'll remember one thing; the Trulli Train. While we laugh and joke about it the fact of the matter is that teams take Trulli's likely race position into consideration in order to avoid the congestion, and ultimately that is what his legacy will be. In Tony Fernandes' place a new driver would be atop my list of things to change for 2012 as Trulli looks to have given the team and the sport all he can. The team needs to step forward, and I don't see the Italian veteran aiding that process.

Lotus took a small step forward in 2011. It wasn't a jump or a stride, but a cautious step towards competitiveness. They made gains, it's true, but not enough of them in my mind. With Red Bull innards there was no reason the team couldn't have been as competitive as a Toro Rosso, but it wasn't. It languished agonisingly off the back of the midfield, almost within touching distance of a points finish but still so far away.

That's what really grates me about Lotus. It's a team that should have done better than it did. That step forward was made, but for some reason it wasn't enough. Perhaps Kovalainen's form made the car look better than it was because no matter which way you try and dress it up it was one of only three teams not to score a point. Williams endured a miserable season, and it finished with five points to its name. Lotus ended the year with the same number with which it started.

With the naming charade now behind us perhaps it gives the team clear direction. It's increased its technical deal with Red Bull, which nearly brought Daniel Ricciardo to the team in place of Trulli, and it still boasts the experience of Mike Gascoyne. It's make or break time for Gascoyne; he must deliver a competitive car in 2012 else he'll likely face the wrath of Fernandes. In fact it's more than that; it's a make or break year for the team as a whole. Fail to produce in 2012 and it will be dismissed as a no-hope also-ran but should it score points, and there is no excuse if it doesn't, there is a justifiable case to include it among the midfield teams.

Caterham needs to succeed in the areas where Lotus lurched forward. It needs a competitive car, it needs points. Anything less will mark 2012 as a failure for the Anglo-Malaysian team from Norwich. Tony Fernandes has stated more than once that he wants to see progress, and while outwardly he seems happy with 2011 he must inwardly be disappointed the team didn't make the step it had hoped for.

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