» Lotus gets a nose job

The Lotus F1 Team will trial a new nose design during practice at next weekend’s United States Grand Prix as it looks to get ahead of the game in finalising the design of its 2015 Grand Prix challenger.

The Enstone-based team has been running with a radical twin-tusk concept this season, its own interpretation of the 2014 safety-driven regulation changes which called for the noses of the cars to be lowered. Amid a myriad of unsightly designs, Lotus’ was perhaps the most extreme.

The FIA subsequently responded and has moved to ban the ‘step’ nose designs developed by a number of teams, moving them towards the more streamlined looks showcased by Mercedes and Ferrari.

The ‘twin tusk’ concept certainly hasn’t helped the team’s competitiveness, although the ill-handling car has far more problems than its front-end aesthetics. The E22 was late in being launched and suffered with appalling pre-season reliability that carried into the first half of the season. While Pastor Maldonado has failed to net a top-ten finish all season, Romain Grosjean’s pair of eighth-placed finishes remain the team’s sole points’ results of a troubled 2014 campaign.

With the team having announced a switch from Renault to Mercedes power next season, it will also use the remaining races to trial concepts that it may run on next year’s car. The most visible will be the new nose design, which it will run at the Circuit of the Americas next Friday afternoon.