Why unloved Lotus 76 may be Colin Chapman's most significant car
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
So how much faster do we think the Ferraris could have gone yesterday in the Spanish Grand Prix?
Kimi Räikkönen, in the post-race press conference, hinted that the Italian squad had plenty up their sleeve when he said that, “we didn’t need to push. If we wanted to push, we could go much faster, for sure, but there’s no point in risking anything or using the engine more than you needed to.”
But, before we all get too over-excited or down in the dumps, it may not be that clear cut. To start with, drivers will always say that they could have gone faster to add that extra punch to those that didn’t beat them. And, perhaps more importantly, the Finnish driver then, when asked about the race, went on to say, “for sure, I needed to push all the time, so it wasn’t the easiest.”
So what do we think? I certainly don’t think the Ferraris are that much quicker than the BMWs and McLarens, but they were averaging much better lap times throughout the Grand Prix.
Barcelona is on par with Monaco when it comes to overtaking so there really was no need to build up a 20 second gap. I must admit, if there weren’t so many safety car interventions they may well have done. But for a driver who says so little and chooses his words carefully, what does Kimi mean when he said he could have gone faster, but he was pushing the whole time?
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
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