Lotus adopts Coanda exhausts and abandons the double DRS
The Lotus team had announced for many weeks that it would introduce significant updates for the Korean Grand Prix. This package will include Coanda effect exhausts which are becoming common on the various cars on the grid. However, the double DRS will be shelved until next year.
Since Spa-Francorchamps, the Lotus team is losing ground on its competitors, despite having finished the first part of the season with an encouraging result in Hungary last July. In South Korea, the English team hopes to close the gap that has opened with the cars ahead, thanks to a new aerodynamic package including Coanda-type exhausts that channel exhaust gases towards the diffuser, helping to regain some downforce lost following the ban on blown diffusers.
« The improvements for Korea represent a big step forward, it’s the beginning of a new era for us. We expect it to work, but it is obviously always difficult to find the right setup for the car when you are testing new parts, » explains James Allison, technical director of the team.
Lotus will therefore be the latest team to adopt this exhaust configuration after Mercedes, who introduced them in the race in Singapore following tests at Magny-Cours during the Rookie Days. However, the team has been working on this improvement for several months. « We have charted our own path somewhat with our relatively simple exhausts, prioritizing power. However, long before the launch of the E20 and up until today, we have conducted a parallel program in our wind tunnel based around the Coanda exhausts, » reports Allison.
Although the performance gain hasn’t yet seemed particularly significant on Mercedes’ single-seaters, this exhaust system has played a role in the recovery of the Scuderia Ferrari cars this season. Lotus thus hopes that this system will allow them to finish the season with a bang to clinch their first victory of the year, and maybe more.
« Once we saw that the potential gain from the Coanda exhausts exceeded that of our current system, it was clear that we had to install it on the car both for the benefit we could gain for the last quarter of the season and also to gain experience for next year. »
On the other hand, Lotus is giving up on using its double DRS, which was tested during many weekends in Friday morning’s free practices. This system will not be installed on the car before the young drivers’ tests in Abu Dhabi. « This system did not have the happiest introduction. It has been more complicated than expected to make it work with the limited opportunities we have in free practice sessions. We are going to put it aside, rethink it, and more than likely give it another chance during the young drivers’ tests in Abu Dhabi where we will have more time to develop it. »
Note that Red Bull seems to have had fewer problems adapting a double DRS-type system on its RB8, as the Austrian team equipped its cars with it for last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
