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New rear wing for Lotus in Brazil

The Lotus DRS has not been a weakness for the team this season © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Brazilian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Mike Gascoyne

• Teams:
• Team Lotus

Lotus will be bringing a new rear wing to the Brazilian Grand Prix which should see it close the gap to the midfield in qualifying.

Lotus has made steady progress throughout the season but still remains clearly off the midfield pace, especially in qualifying due to a less effective DRS system. In Q1 in Abu Dhabi Heikki Kovalainen was 0.7s slower than Pastor Maldonado, and over a second off the pace of Sebastien Buemi. In the races, though, Lotus has tended to be more competitive as DRS can't be used as often, and Mike Gascoyne said that the new wing should help address the qualifying weakness.

"Our progress on track has been clear to see and another sign of our ongoing development this year is the fact we are bringing a new rear wing to Brazil," Gascoyne said. "Our race pace has been good all season, but we have not been able to match that in qualifying, and the update to the rear wing is designed to help us do that by improving the efficiency of our DRS system.

"In simple terms, because DRS can be used anywhere on track in qualifying our performances in Q1 have not matched our race performances where DRS usage is limited, and bringing a new wing that gives us more downforce and improves the efficiency of the system should see us being able to close the gap in qualifying to the cars ahead compared to the previous races."

Gascoyne also said that it was a sign of Lotus' progress that it was still bringing new parts to the car, and that it was an approach it would be looking to continue taking in the future.

"Last year we had stopped development on the T127 halfway through the season and this year we have new parts right up to the final race and that is how we will be operating next year and for many seasons to come."

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