Lotus Won’t Travel To Jerez At All, Not Even With E21 – Not A Promising Sign
Lotus has confirmed that it will not have its new 2014 car, the E22, ready for the first test of the season at Jerez starting on 28 January.
It has also come to light that the Enstone based outfit will not make the journey to the Spanish venue even with last year’s E21 to take advantage of the track time.
A spokesperson for Lotus said, “No benefit in running the E21 [at Jerez] – the cars are too different with the regulation changes. We’ve decided that attending the Jerez test isn’t ideal for our build and development programme.”
“We are likely to unveil the car before attending the Bahrain tests, and in Bahrain we should really be able to put the car through its paces in representative conditions,” he added.
Thus the team’s new signing Pastor Maldonado will have to wait before getting familiar with his new surroundings. (Apex)
Subbed by AJN.
MyTake
As an outsider and one who has no experience in the running of an F1 team, my first thought – something is amiss. What are we to make of the this? That Lotus is behind in their build schedule, that similar to Red Bull in the past they want to make absolutely sure everything is covered in regards to the new formula and a heavily revised chassis? Recall the year RedBull sat out the first winter test, they went on to win both championships. Or possibly money is still ailing Lotus’s operation. I suppose there could be other [good] reasons which have compelled Lotus to forego this first test. Which ever the case, it can’t be helpful.
AmerF1can 
Clearly Lotus is just protecting themselves from an embarrassing showing. Fuckin’ Lotus.
ha ha ha… glad to see your keeping up with your F1 reading… 🙂
i suppose that is a possibility as well…
My take from up North, They don’t have the money. Testing and travel costs a lot and they have been know in the past for not paying their bills on time.
That is my feeling too. I’m sure there will be some follow-up in the press we should find out the real answer by the first test.
I think they’re being careful…no sense in running if its not ready.
E.
No money then!
Good business sense I guess, as long as they remember that when the drivers are still in their learning curve in race one.
Similar situation with one of the CRT entries in MotoGP last year (bikes again, sorry!) but the teams in the lower classes, especially Moto3, often have the rides confirmed so late that they often end up winging it with little testing done!
Though MotoGP bikes have another interesting related story with Ducati considering no longer running as a factory team at all! Crazy Motorsport people eh?!
Hopefully Lotus know what they are doing!
Lisa
your point is taken well. this without a doubt is what many people are referring to when they say F1 can not sustain the pace of spending it is currently in. unless your RB, Ferrari, McLaren or Mercedes (although I am pretty sure the bean counters and the board will do everything it can to make sure the company stays solvent. translation this is the money you have to work with not a Deutsche Mark more. scratch that not a Euro more, ha ha…)