Team Lotus will use one of Williams’ wind tunnels

This will be the second wind tunnel used by Team Lotus as they are already using the facilities of the Italian Aerolab wind tunnel. However, this use has led to a legal dispute with Force India, which accuses them of illicitly using their work to develop their first car.

In response, the Hingham team decided to launch the construction of its own wind tunnel. But before it becomes operational, it must benefit from the necessary infrastructure for the development of its single-seaters. The solution comes from Williams, for whom the two wind tunnels are too heavy a burden now that budgets and wind tunnel usage are limited.

The Grove team is currently suffering from a lack of budget, especially since the departure of many sponsors during the off-season. That is why they have embarked on a wide program of selling services to other motorsports as well as in F1. Thus, they have leveraged their expertise in operating the Cosworth engine to sell their transmissions to HRT, who also uses the British engine.

This agreement with Team Lotus is not intended to last very long since it will only take effect from next September and will only last until the new wind tunnel of Tony Fernandes’ team is operational. Besides the advantages directly related to performance, the Malaysian businessman sees other benefits in this agreement.

The other side of this deal is that I owe a lot to Frank Williams, Patrick Head, and Adam Parr, who were the first people I worked with in Formula One. AirAsia was a proud sponsor of their team. Frank, Patrick, and Adam played a central role in introducing me to the world of Formula One. I am therefore delighted that we are able to continue working together as Team Lotus continues to establish itself as a serious contender in Formula 1, said Fernandes.

With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr