F1: Renault says Lotus can do 60-70 laps

F1: Renault says Lotus can do 60-70 laps

Formula 1

F1: Renault says Lotus can do 60-70 laps

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Renault believes that Lotus will be able to complete “60 or 70 laps” on the third day of Bahrain Formula 1 testing, despite its troubled first two days.

The Lotus E22 made its public debut in Bahrain on Wednesday, after the team was forced to miss the first test at Jerez. But during his two days of running this week, Romain Grosjean was only able to log 26 laps before handing the car over to Pastor Maldonado for the rest of the test.

Despite this, Renault’s head of track operations Remi Taffin says he is almost certain that the problems that have blighted Lotus so far can be fixed overnight.

“It’s always difficult to say you are 100 percent sure, but I think we can be 99 percent sure that we are going to be fixing these problems for tomorrow,” Taffin told reporters. “If we are not fixing the problems of a particular part, we will put on a part that we know is going to be working. There’s no reason that we should not be able to do 60 or 70 laps tomorrow if we wish to.

“I think we will put everything together and there’s no reason it’s different to what we experienced with the other three teams today.”

Renault’s main problems – not only with Lotus – are understood to have been software-related, and Taffin believes that this is an area that it can make quick progress.

Bahrain day two report

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“The main difference between hardware and software problems is that sometimes hardware is very different to fix because you need to find where the problem is coming from,” he said. “Software is easier because you’ve got much more means to test this, and it’s much more easy to modify than the hardware.”

Originally on Autosport.com

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