Lotus F1 plans to keep Coanda exhausts in Korea

Lotus F1 Team sees its performances decline against rival teams which continue to progress at the end of the season. While Kimi Räikkönen is still in the running for the title, the British team chose to test its Coanda effect exhausts during free practice in South Korea on the car of the 2007 world champion. After the Finn signed the tenth time of the second session one second behind the reference time established by Sebastian Vettel, the system seems to have proven itself and could be retained this weekend for qualifying and the race.

“I think we could save it for this weekend. We haven't decided yet but it looks like it's going well.", comments James Allison, technical director of Lotus F1 Team. “We are happy with the way they work. I think we are at the start of a long journey with them. It wasn't easy to get the best out of it from the first outing, but the data recovered is pretty good. We had the choice between two solutions at the start of the year: the Coanda effect exhausts and the first choice which was a conventional version. At that time, the conventional solution seemed more effective. We had to be sure that we would be able to optimize the aerodynamic downforce as well as the engine power and we stuck to the first solution. »

On the other hand, the double DRS tested several months ago no longer seems to be on the agenda since the British single-seaters had the classic system. James Allison nevertheless emphasizes that this development has in no way been abandoned and that it will soon be tested for next season. “We are not abandoning this system, but it is very difficult to develop. Even if we continue to work on it, we won't see it much on Fridays (during free practice). We will reinstall it during the Young Driver tests (where Nicolas Cheers is already committed) and we hope to move forward. »