Raikkonen's secret weapon explained

Realistically, the Belgian Grand Prix marked the end of Kimi Raikkonen's 2013 world championship hopes.

The gap of 63 points to Sebastian Vettel is not impossible to close, but given the relative pace of the Lotus E21 the Finn simply does not have the tools at his disposal to repeat his feat of 2007, when he closed a gap equivalent to 60 points in 'new money' to Lewis Hamilton to win the title. But there is hope...

Lotus will try out a long-wheelbase version of its Lotus E21 at Monza, as revealed by AUTOSPORT last week. Achieved by angling the front suspension forward and expected to extend the wheelbase by approximately 100mm, at least one version of this new specification Lotus, which has been in the works for some time, will be unleashed.

The process of adopting a longer wheelbase is not as difficult as some might suspect. One option is to extend the monocoque, but in the case of Lotus it requires only the production of new suspension parts and the extension of the nose in order to ensure the front wing is far enough forward of the tyres. But that's not to say it's simple enough to do to make it viable on a whim.

The question is, why do it at all? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer lies in the team's relatively new driver-in-loop simulator, which came online last season.

"It's one of the results of the new process we have with the new driver-in-loop simulator," explains team principal Eric Boullier. "Different teams use different strategies for the simulator. Red Bull, for example, uses it as a third 'virtual' car [on grand prix weekends] which we don't want to do.

Lotus chief Boullier at Spa © XPB

"We prefer to use it in the decision-making process. Because we don't have the same money as Red Bull, we have to work differently. And to make sure we are even more accurate when we deliver parts to the race team, we have put the simulator into the decision-making process.

"The vehicle performance group came up with the idea of changing the wheelbase. We then had to correlate with the windtunnel, so it's a complex story. But in the end, all of the different groups believe it is a performance bonus, so we go for it."

The involvement of the simulator means even before the car hits the track at Monza, the drivers will haven 'driven' it. Well, one of them will. The long-wheelbase car has been tried out by Lotus development driver Nicolas Prost, but of the race drivers only Romain Grosjean has sampled it. As Boullier puts it: "Kimi is not very interested in the simulator."

A final decision has not yet been made on exactly how Lotus will run its two cars at Monza. Partly, it depends on whether Lotus can manufacturer the specific parts in time.

"I don't know yet," says Boullier of plans for Monza. "There is a production lead time and I don't know if we can supply both cars or one as we need spares. You can always bring two sets to the track, but you need spares or it does not make sense to do both cars. Maybe we will compare them - run one car in the basic configuration and one with the long wheelbase to see what the gain is.

"Everybody has had to work on this new concept because it changes the set-up of the car, the suspension, the aerodynamics. Even the nose needed a new crash test, so it's a big job."

With Lotus never quite having had the pace to emerge as a consistent challenger for victory this year, the logical question is whether it is hoped the lengthening of the wheelbase is about raising the ceiling of what can be extracted from the car. Boullier suggests this is not the case, insisting that it is for handling reasons that the change is being made, even though it turns out there is a small aerodynamic benefit.

Lotus's resources and current car package trail Red Bull at present © XPB

"I don't think it's driven by this idea," he says. "F1 is mainly aero-driven in terms of performance, but the vehicle performance group has come up with something to help the handling of the car. It doesn't change the car drastically and it's more about the dynamics rather than the aero side. But maybe it will open some new doors in other areas."

Inevitably, there is a degree of risk in what Lotus is doing. But given the team's position of fourth in the constructors' championship, 122 points clear of McLaren, there is no tremendous downside. Hopes weren't particularly high for Monza anyway, so in a worst-case scenario, if the long wheelbase doesn't work out as hoped it will cost some practice time on a weekend that wasn't going to be great.

But Lotus is confident that the change will work. This is no blind gamble. Crucially, if it works it also validates the way in which the driver-in-loop simulator is being used.

"There is always a risk," says Boullier. "No team in the paddock can tell you bringing an upgrade to the track today carries no risk. It's true that this one is maybe more risky because there are consequences to the suspension, the aero, the handling.

"But we have to do it because we have to test our system. The decision-making process is now more complex because it includes the simulator, which gives more importance to vehicle performance. We have to see if it works."

Chester now leads the Lotus technical team © LAT

Inevitably, the introduction of the long wheelbase car will also be seen as an acid test for technical director Nick Chester. Chester took the job vacated by the highly-rated James Allison, who quit the team before signing up for Ferrari.

But Boullier is quick to stress that as Chester stepped up from within the team, where he previously held the role of engineering director, that change has been seamless.

"It's the same as before," he says. "You have different models, like the Red Bull model with Adrian Newey delivering ideas, concepts and drawings, but ours is different.

"We have a group of between 10 and 20 people who are suggesting ideas and concepts. It is not only down to one person; it's a small group and the technical director is the final decision-maker except in the case where there is a big impact on the car, in which case it includes me as well.

"Nick naturally stepped into the shoes of James as all the same people are still around. The flow of ideas and concepts is still the same."

Inevitably, any coverage of Lotus is always dogged by questions about the team's budget. But the willingness to continue to develop its 2013 car, combined with the fact that facilities such as the simulator and, more recently, a gearbox dyno, have come online backs up Genii Capital's claims that there is still some money there.

"These are just typical rumours," insists Boullier. "It's true that we are tight on cashflow and are not spending money crazily, but we are still doing our development right."