A weekend behind the scenes at Lotus Renault GP – Part two

• 02/08/2011

  A weekend behind the scenes at Lotus...

• 24/07/2011

  Guten Morgen from the Nürburgring

• 23/07/2011

  Bruno Senna video diary - German GP

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Charaf-Eddin Ait Taleb was offered the chance to spend a weekend with the team at the German Grand Prix recently. It was an offer that he could not refuse. His insight into a weekend spent with a Formula One team is a revealing and fascinating one. Earlier this week, we told part one of his story. Here is the second installment.

After my drive out on track with Nico Rosberg, I went back to the Renault pit where Bruno Senna addressed me in French. What really throws me with Bruno every time I speak to him is his voice, which is very deep. You'd think it was a forty-year-old guy. I teased him about this and he answered:

"Yes. My dad was an opera singer."

"Okay. Sing something for me!"

"No. My voice is completely out-of-tune."

"OK. Well Bruno tell me, will you soon be driving for Lotus Renault on Fridays?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm told you're a friend of Eric's so put in a good word for me!" and he bursts into laughter.

I spoke to Vitaly a little. I don't know what image he puts across in the media, but Petrov is a pretty talkative guy. He speaks quite loudly and in a relaxed manner, moving his arms and head as he does. When he gets out of his car and speaks to the engineers, he punctuates his sentences by punching one hand into the other to give more weight to his words on such and such a parameter or incident. Heidfeld has a different approach. He's calm and discreet, speaks softly and always looks as if he's in a reflective state of mind.

In the evening I was dropped off at my hotel at the side of the track. The car barely came to a halt when my door opened and a guy welcomed me. The hotel was huge, in the hall I saw across Nicolas, Lewis's brother, and Alonso who's locked in discussion. But the cherry on the cake was when I went up to my room - maybe apartment would be a better description. The bedroom was bigger than my flat in Paris! It's a huge change after my tent and the camp sites in which I usually set up camp and sleep during the races. I slid open the window in my room and found myself on a huge balcony with a view overlooking – well I don't know what really!

On the Friday morning I was down for breakfast at 8am, and the mechanics were already hard at work practising refuelling stops. I went to the Lotus Renault pits. If you've never visited an F1 pit, the first thing that hits you is the smell: a mixture of petrol, hot rubber and cleanliness. Each mechanic, each engineer is getting on with his job. They are all hard at work and concentrated, but still relaxed whistling and singing to themselves. I'm not, and never will be, a racing driver and I put myself in the place of Petrov or Heidfeld. The only thing you want to do when you see how devoted these blokes are to their team is to give 110% both on the track and off it. I put on my headset and listen to what's being said. The engineers talk calmly. There's always a please or a thank you at the end of each sentence.

At the start of the session, the driver has a clearly-defined programme to run through and his engineers' job is to help him complete it. The first session is used to check all the systems. It starts with the radio. The driver has to speak in every corner to make sure it's working properly all around the circuit. Then all the on-board systems are tested. All this is validated on the first or the first two laps. Vitaly and Nick give a precise summary between every run on what is working or could be corrected, and what's not functioning at all.

When the driver leaves the pit his engineer tells him if the track is free and, if this isn't the case, tells him who's coming and how much space he has in front of him. He's informed on a regular basis what the drivers in front of and behind him are up to. Everything is done to ensure he only has to concentrate on driving the car. He is also told not to use the DRS, to check the aero or work on the race. The engine mapping or the KERS is also changed. When the latter's map is adjusted, the brake balance is heavily modified. When you want the KERS to recharge quickly, you have to increase the load on the front brakes and vice versa. The aim of using a battery is to extend its life, so priority is given to progressive loading. When the engineers see there's a parameter which the driver can't access, the latter is given the information and he is asked to react accordingly. But the driver is free to ignore the advice if he wishes.

Halfway through the session, Nick's Lotus-Renault was wheeled into the garage and a strong smell of burning invades the whole pit. His car had just suffered severe overheating. Free practice flashes by in an instant. Petrov finds his marks to come into the pit lane and also the pit stop zone. It's the same thing in the afternoon for a routine that I'm starting to get to know. Eric Boullier passed by and saids hello to me at the end of the second session. Around 6pm, I sat down with Simon, Nick's engineer, who was supposed to be Robert's (Kubica) at the start of the season. I began by congratulating him on his work, and also for his ability to understand what's said on the radio, as when the drivers speak it's sometimes very difficult to grasp what they're saying. He replies.

"But you get to know the drivers when you're close to them, and sometimes we know what they're going to say to us even before they've said it!"

"So it wasn't easy for you to change drivers a month before the start of the season, was it?"

"No. I had to work hard but luckily we had a few test sessions before it began. I now understand better how Nick's going to tackle his weekend, how I can help him and the problems he may have to cope with."

Simon then returned to work. Only then, Vitaly sits down beside me and we started chatting. I asked him if he's under a lot of pressure from Russia and he told me.

"Yes, but you know, I ignore all that."

I spoke to him about the break during the winter and asked if he changed a lot during that period.'

"Well, not as much as all that. Obviously, I learned a lot during my first season, and my aim was to convince the team that I was improving, and that they just had to give me more time. Today, you can see the result."

"This year, Vitaly, I find you're much more natural and relaxed", I said.
"Well my results have started to improve so I'm not under so much pressure."

Qualifying is Saturday's highlight. On this occasion Silence reigned in the LRGP pits. A few guests spoke in whispers as it they were in a church! The voices on the radios were different. You just know that the next few minutes are going to prove crucial for the rest of the weekend. The drivers are given the countdown before the start of the session. On my right, Nick's engine was brought up to the right temperature and on my left, it's the same for Vitaly's. The air pistols rattlec into life as Vitaly's tyres were changed. Q1 got under way. Finally, the Lotus-Renaults ha no difficulties getting into Q2, although we still bear in mind the shock of having a car eliminated in the first session. One of the key moments of the weekend is Q2. During this, the engineers have to manage the traffic as best they can and the driver is updated continuously: "There's a Red Bull five seconds behind and he's on a quick lap. The Ferrari in front of you is on his warm-up lap. Let this guy past as there's a twenty-second gap behind him. Keep the tyres at the right temperature - we're going into qualifying mode."

To this, I clenched my fists without even realising. My hair stood on end. There are so many parameters, there's so much information to be analysed, understood and then transmitted to the man on the track. And then it's all over. It was at this time that Simon's voice rung on the headset: "Unfortunately Nick, we haven't made it into Q3." The silence that follows almost hurts my ears. I can see myself in the car in front of my family and friends coming back into the pits with my head bowed, furious with myself and then having to put up with the horde of journalists shoving their mics under my nose. Sometimes it's better to simply be who you are!

In the evening I left the paddock with my friends from Red Bull. On our way out we came upon a row of old racing cars. I found Nico sitting in the one in which Fangio won the F1 title. I looked at the car and was gob-smacked to see just how narrow the tyres were. Nico edwhen he saw the expression on my face and said: "Look at the steering wheel!"

'You'd think it came from a lorry."

Nico didn't seem to be very comfortable in the car with his knees placed apart up around the steering wheel.

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