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- Ardius_
I have to say Lotus have exceeded my expectations, though I did sort of expect them to make some leaps in performance when they started fitting more F1-spec parts on the car (stuff like carbon fibre suspension, quality hydraulics, developing their own gearbox, etc). From being at least 2-3 seconds off the slowest car at Bahrain qualifying, they are now getting close to 5-7 tenths off. 👍 There is still more pace to be found too, I never expected them to be getting so close to the pace so quickly this year. Clearly the basic design of the T127 is good, both in aerodynamics and mechanical. It appears to have a good balance too, as Kovalainen at least seems to find a good setup quite quickly.
Virgin have gone backwards since, HRT already had them covered with reliability amazingly and now they are close on their heels for pace. Chandhok's race pace at Monaco was actually fairly decent relative to everyone else and they too can only get better as they fit more F1-level parts. Its kind of a shame too, as Virgin did show signs of faster pace than the Lotus in qualifying initially, but as Lotus have developed their car, Virgin have had to bring out an entirely new spec car to fit the new fuel tank. In races, Virgin have been pretty terrible, reliability is quite frankly shocking. To be worse than a rushed Dallara run by a ragtag team is quite something. I don't know if its a CFD-routed issue, but certainly there has to be some questions about the design or the manufacture of the Virgin.
If the rumours about HRT purchasing Toyota's Cologne facilities are true, then teams like Virgin, Sauber and Williams are in real danger of falling behind both HRT and Lotus next year if they don't turn around their current forms.
Virgin have gone backwards since, HRT already had them covered with reliability amazingly and now they are close on their heels for pace. Chandhok's race pace at Monaco was actually fairly decent relative to everyone else and they too can only get better as they fit more F1-level parts. Its kind of a shame too, as Virgin did show signs of faster pace than the Lotus in qualifying initially, but as Lotus have developed their car, Virgin have had to bring out an entirely new spec car to fit the new fuel tank. In races, Virgin have been pretty terrible, reliability is quite frankly shocking. To be worse than a rushed Dallara run by a ragtag team is quite something. I don't know if its a CFD-routed issue, but certainly there has to be some questions about the design or the manufacture of the Virgin.
If the rumours about HRT purchasing Toyota's Cologne facilities are true, then teams like Virgin, Sauber and Williams are in real danger of falling behind both HRT and Lotus next year if they don't turn around their current forms.
![[FPV]Rusty](/forum/data/avatars/m/50/50391.jpg?1120996378){kind=avatar}
. Where are Ferrari? Great to see Petrov and Kobayashi up there. Particularly after Coulthard and Brundle's comments on Kobayashi. People keep saying Kobayashi is over-rated and keep pointing to his GP2 results, but I think its quite clear he has the talent to be in F1. Its unfair to judge him based on retirements out of his control, when he has had the chance, he has made it to Q3 twice now. Hopefully he doesn't get nudged by Kubica or whoever like last time.
