Romain Grosjean, Lotus E22, Bahrain International Circuit, 2014

Lotus E22 hits the track in Bahrain

2014 F1 season

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Lotus have become the final team of 2014 to run their car in public as their new E22 chassis appeared on the first day of testing at Bahrain.

Romain Grosjean drove the unusual-looking car with its twin-pronged nose on its first laps as the second test began.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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39 comments on “Lotus E22 hits the track in Bahrain”

  1. Stangely fond of this :-)

    1. +1 mate!

      1. I too am stangely fond.

    2. Maybe it’s because it has an cavity rather than a protusion.

    3. I am also fond of it…
      I don’t want to like it, I just do!

  2. It looks a bit of 70-80 kind of cool really. A lot better than all the appendixes on the front of many cars, this actually looks purposefull ,like Mercedes and Ferrari, well and Caterham, but that looks pretty crude.

    1. I was exactly thinking the same thing.
      In a way it looks like the Caterham, but with two sausages.

  3. Wow! That looks terrible from this angle. And here I was thinking that I will hate the first-launched cars more and like the ones launched later. Now, I like the Mclaren and Ferrari than the Caterham and Lotus!!

  4. I really hope these guys do well this year, everyone there could do with it. Ignoring the retracted Sochi tweet, these guys seem the nicest in the pitlane.

    1. The only thing wrong with that tweet was that it was indeed retracted.

  5. It looks odd, but it is great o have some variety on the grid for a change. Looking at those pictures form the first turbo era I was struck by just how different all the cars where, and not just from an aero point of view either, as all the engine manufacturers took different routes (I4, V6 and V8 turbos a few normally aspirated cars).

    It’s going to be great seeing which solution proves to be the most effective and then seeing all the other teams coming out with their own interpretations. Vive la difference and all that…

  6. Well, I must admit they have some guts at Lotus. I hope they do well this year. :)

  7. Best looking nose.

    1. @thejaredhuang could you be more specific?

      I don’t know if you’re talking about the long or the short one…

      1. I’ve looking, looking and relooking over and over to tell whether one actually is shorter than the other and it is, isn’t it?

        This lack of symmetry isn’t just giving me a headache, it’s also ugly. Not impressed.

        If I had to pick one nose length though, I’d go for the longer.

        1. The tusk on the right (the driver’s right that is) is indeed longer. If they were the same length the nose would be illegal.

    2. The two-tusk nose:

      The one on the right side is exquisite, a piece of art, a master piece; the one on the left is atrocious, an abomination….:))))

      Let’s hope the asymmetry does not lead to the asymmetrical lift on the track….

  8. Unmistakeable and not as bad as the other smart-**** noses. And it reminds me a bit of the Lotus 78.

    The first copy of it has already been spotted in the Bahrain paddock

  9. I so hope that the Lotus version of the front nose isn’t quickest so the other teams don’t follow suit!

  10. Best looking noses in F1 this year

  11. I just saw a shot of the back of it on the sky website live feed. the exhaust is asymmetrical too. I wish them well but I’m not supporting them like I was last year. With this year’s driver line up and Boulier gone, the most colourful part of the team is the PR dept.

    1. Wow. the Mclaren’s backend looks impressively complicated.

    2. this one?

      1. @johnnik yeah there was a better one from a lower down angle.

  12. There’s no other word for it: horrible. It just is. I like it’s uniqueness, but it’s just plain horrid.

  13. Why am I warming to this nose? I shouldn’t be warming to this nose. Maybe it’s seeing the hideous noses of Force India, Toro Rosso, and Caterham again.

    To be fair to Lotus, although their financial-state has been in question, they have a lot of sponsors on their car. Mind PDVSA may as well be title sponsors with the amount of logos they have on the car.

  14. Wow, the chassi looks incredibly high at the front. Almost looks like Grosjean is looking over a wall, trying to see whats on the other side!

  15. Hope there won’t be front crash with caterham ;)

    1. you’ll get little Cater-tus nine months later…

  16. They are doing something right at lotus, that car is covered in sponsors! I know all about last year, but compared to some of the big 3, lotus is bathing in logos

    1. The real question is if that PDVSA is going to last until november.

  17. Not a Lotus item but Hulk comfortably quickest in Bahrain and has already equalled last year’s fastest race lap (Vettel 1:36.9) so that’s one in the eye for all the doomsayers…

  18. I’m a long term Enstone fan, but I really really dislike this car. In the past I’ve liked them for thinking outside of the box, but this time I wish they’d climbed back in, at least with 1 leg…

    And after their “successful” filming day, 8 timed laps today is a little worrying. As much as I keep telling everybody that test times mean nothing, those 8 laps were woefully off the pace considering the apparent lack of reliability.

  19. I don’t know how to think about this one. From some angles it looks brilliant, from others it looks terrible.

  20. It looks like a cross between an F1 car of the last few years, and an LMP car from le mans or something really out there

  21. Don’t see how double disruption of air flow can lead to neat collection of that flow. Unless they have some kind of invisible pieces on the car to guide the flow, don’t see how that is better.

  22. The best thing about this car is that it will save cash-strapped Lotus money.
    With that forklift nose it can move team freight around during the week, then race on Sundays!

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