Lotus has announced a deal that will see it using the Williams wind tunnel for its car development.
The team is in the process of building its own wind tunnel at its Hingham base, and will eventually move all operations to its own site. Up to now Lotus has been doing its development work at the Aerolab facility in Italy, and it will now run a two tunnel programme when it begins using one of the two tunnels at Williams' Grove headquarters from this September.
Team principal Tony Fernandes said he was pleased to have secured a deal that would allow the team to work on its aerodynamic development in the UK.
"There are a number of reasons why I am delighted that we have signed this deal," Fernandes said. "From a practical perspective there are the obvious benefits of increasing our wind tunnel activity and using a state of the art facility in the UK, and I am sure that will immediately help Marianne Hinson (Head of Aerodynamics and CFD) and her team to work even more effectively in one of the key areas of the ongoing development of our team."
Although Lotus is looking to close the gap to the midfield runners including Williams itself, Fernandes points out that his relationship with the team goes back to when he first showed an interest in Formula 1.
"The other side of the agreement is that I owe a great deal of thanks to Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Adam Parr as they were the first people I ever worked with in Formula 1. AirAsia was a proud sponsor of their team and Frank, Patrick and Adam played key roles in introducing me to the Formula 1 world, so I am very pleased that we are able to keep working together as Team Lotus continues to establish itself as a serious force in Formula 1."
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