MOTORSPORT: Lotus unveil new car (From Bicester Advertiser)

MOTORSPORT: Lotus unveil new car

10:00am Tuesday 29th January 2013 in Sport

Lotus last night became the first team to take the covers off their car ahead of the new Formula 1 season.

Via the team’s YouTube channel, drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean unveiled the E21 on the factory floor in Enstone after original plans to do so in a marquee were thwarted by freak winds.

The car has retained a predominantly gold and black livery witnessed last year, although with more flashes of red – notably on the engine air intake and sidepods – than was the case in 2012.

It also sports, in white lettering, the hashtag ‘ImSexyAndIKnowIt’.

Despite the chance to mask the step in the car’s nose, deemed by many as ‘ugly’ when revealed by most teams at the start of last year, Lotus have opted to retain the design.

With Lotus a comfortable fourth in the constructors’ championship, and Raikkonen third in the drivers’ standings, team principal Eric Boullier concedes the team are pushing for more.

Asked if a top-three finish was on the cards, Boullier said: “We will definitely try.

“Third place is definitely an achievement we would like to have this year.

“We would like to build on the momentum from 2012.”

SUSIE Wolff will be the first to drive Williams’s latest car ahead of the new Formula 1 season.

Wolff was appointed development driver ten months ago for the Grove-based marque.