LRGP gears up to go down under for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Q+A with Nick Heidfeld

The new recruit explains how he has settled into the team and his hopes for the season ahead.

Nick, the first race is upon us. Are you excited?
I always enjoy coming to Australia. It’s my favourite place to travel to on the calendar because the people are relaxed and there’s always a warm atmosphere.

You’ve been with the team just over a month. How have you found things?
Right from the first test I have tried to push the car in the right direction and I’ve really enjoyed working with the team. I can have more input here than I was used to in other teams because everybody is very open and interested in what I have to say.

What sort of winter have you had?
You always have to put things in perspective when talking about testing. I think we have a quick car, but like every team on the grid we have had a few issues to cope with during the tests, especially in terms of reliability. This said, we’ve been able to develop some very promising elements.

Have you been able to judge the competitiveness of the R31?
We have an idea of where we stand, but nobody knows exactly. I think we have good performance in the car and, if everything is working well, I hope we can fight for podiums from the start of the season.

People say that a nice looking car can’t be slow…
Well, the answer to this one is in the question. The car is gorgeous. I know this is very subjective, but you have to see the R31 for real.

You’ve contributed to the Pirelli testing last year. Will it help you this season?
Not at all. I can’t even remember what we did then. (big smile)

What can we expect in Melbourne?
There are lots of unknowns, especially because it’s the first time we will race with the new adjustable rear wing, KERS and Pirelli tyres. I believe the tyres will have the biggest impact and will make the strategy quite exciting. I expect to see a lot more pit stops than in the past – at least three per race – and I believe the pit stop windows will be narrower. That’s because when the tyres degrade and lose performance, you have no choice but to pit, otherwise you lose too much time.

Q+A with Vitaly Petrov

Vitaly looks back on winter testing and talks us through his preparations for Melbourne.

Vitaly, we’re getting the season underway in Melbourne. Do you enjoy this race?
It’s a good place to start the year and I really enjoyed my first visit last year. The fans are crazy about F1, the grandstands are full and it’s clear that the country loves the race.

How different do you feel at the start of your second season compared with 12 months ago?
I think I’m a very different person. I have more experience; I know the team very well, and I understand more about Formula 1. Even just knowing all the circuits makes things a lot easier. I feel much better prepared.

What are your feelings now that winter testing is over?
We learned a lot during the winter. The R31 is certainly a big step forward, but at the same time we have to cope with new tyres, which have a massive impact on performance. With these tyres there is more movement and they are more aggressive than what we were used to in the past because of the degradation.

Do you feel well prepared for the first race?
You always want more time to test. If you give us another week, we will use it, especially because we have so many new things on the car this year. I had my first experience of KERS over the winter and the adjustable rear wing, which is something new for everyone. I think our solutions are good and I believe we can be competitive.

Will the drivers be more busy during races?
“Multitasking” will be the word of the year. Playing with all the steering wheel dials at 300km/h will be, I guess, like answering to three Blackberry messages while making fried eggs and doing your shoe laces… all at the same time. We’ll see how it goes.

What is a realistic goal for the start of the season?
The guys have done a great job with this car. It’s strong, aggressive and innovative, and we will add lots of new things during the season. I don’t want to say where we will finish because nobody really knows, but we believe we are closer to the front than we were last season. Probably by the second or third race we will start to really understand.

A word with the Boss Eric Boullier

Eric Boullier updates us on the team’s progress over a challenging winter.

Eric, after a busy winter, how does it feel to be heading to Melbourne to kick off the new season?
I feel excited. We had a tough winter with a lot of unfortunate and unexpected news, but we have reacted quickly and we are ready for the season. We usually say that everybody in the team has been working very hard over the winter to prepare for the new season, but it’s never been so true. We have some interesting and promising developments on our car. Now it’s time to go racing.

You’ve attended all the winter test sessions – what has been your verdict on the team’s progress so far?
We have done an enormous amount of work over the last few weeks to really understand this car and get the performance from it. What I can say is that we are clearly in better shape in terms of ultimate performance compared to last year, which was our target.

There have been some reliability issues over the winter. Do you feel these issues have been resolved?
We had to build and produce lots of new technology for the car, but our resources are not unlimited and there were a couple of issues on the car, which reduced our mileage. We have addressed those problems and I’m now feeling more confident than I was three weeks ago. The number one priority given this winter to our engineers: first of all make us a quick car, take risks, be innovative. The R31 is very different from anything the team has produced before and we’re very proud of that.

And what about Nick? How has he adapted to the team’s way of working?
I think he has settled in as well as we could have expected. The more he works with the team, the easier things become and he has already built a good relationship with everybody.

Vitaly is starting his second season in Formula 1. What can we expect from him?
He knows the people, the car, the tracks, and obviously that makes a big difference compared to last year. We can expect him to deliver strong races from the start of the season, just like he ended last season in Abu Dhabi.

What are your expectations for this weekend in Melbourne?
Last year we finished second, with the help of the weather. I would love to do the same this year, without any help!

Tech Talk with James Allison

Technical Director recaps winter testing and sets out his hopes for the R31.

James, how has the team coped with the demands of a busy winter test programme?
Winter testing is a challenge on many levels, not just the technical side. There were four tests in quick succession, which is pretty tiring physically for the group of guys involved. Those same people then had to prepare the cars and pack the freight for the first Grand Prix, which is always a race against the clock. As ever, the hours have been long but everyone has done an excellent job to get us ready in time for the start of the season.

And on the technical side?
Obviously a Formula 1 car is an extremely complicated piece of equipment, and with the R31 almost every part is brand new and needs validating. So the list of things you have to demonstrate to yourself is very long. That’s always a challenge in any season, but it’s made even more complex when you have to cope with the return of KERS and the arrival of the adjustable rear wing. And that’s before you consider the amount of work we had to do adapting to the new Pirelli tyres. It meant there was a lot of work to do in a very short space of time.

Talking of the tyres, how do you think they will impact on the racing?
Well, I will only repeat what others have already said on the matter. Tyres will be challenging for all the teams because they have been made to be aggressive. They have a high level of degradation per lap, which means you can lose performance very rapidly. Looking after the tyres is something the drivers need to be thinking about all the time and will be a dominating factor in the races. We will probably see three or four stops per race.

Are you pleased with the progress the team has made over the winter?
I’m pleased that we achieved what we set out to achieve, which was to assess all the new elements of the car and get through our pre-season test programme. But I won’t be fully content until we’ve actually demonstrated in racing conditions that everything is working properly, the car is reliable and we get to the flag showing good pace.

What are your expectations for the R31?
Based on what I saw during the pre-season, I hope we can arrive in Melbourne with a step forward compared to our pace last season so that we can continue our progress towards the front of the grid.