How are you looking forward to the penultimate race of the season? It’s the penultimate race of the season and also my penultimate of this chapter with the team so it will be quite emotional. I’m sure we’ll see this at the team dinner we have every year at a churrascaria where the team who travels around all year can let their hair down a little and share some laughs over a couple of drinks well before the practice sessions. Like every year I will be raising a caipirinha to everyone in the team in Sao Paulo, then another to everyone back in Enstone too! What is your strategy in the churrascaria? It is an evening where you have to be very strategic and pace yourself. The trick is not to go too fast too soon. Early in the evening they bring out the cheaper cuts of meat and the salad bar is very well stocked so it’s easy to fill yourself up before the more expensive cuts come out. The other factor to be aware of is don’t drink too much as it’s very tempting to do that. Also, through the evening you need to store sufficient supplies just in case of any food fight! Tell us about Interlagos; is it a track you like? It’s a fantastic track and there’s no part of it that isn’t great. It really suits my driving style so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a big challenge at every turn. There never seems to have a part where you relax. Even the main start-finish ‘straight’ isn’t boring as it starts uphill with some interesting camber, then gradually turns before finishing at the downhill turn one, where it’s so easy to out-brake yourself. If I had to pick favourite parts of Interlagos, I would say the first and last corners; the first corner is really technical and punishes you if you get it wrong, and the last corner is so fast and really puts quite a stain on your body. As a driver I really enjoy these corners. It’s an old style track, so very hard to pick out a single element; I’d say everything is pretty good in Interlagos; I love it! What’s the response of the fans like in Brazil? They really love Formula 1 and Formula 1 really loves the Brazilian fans. You feel the passion when you arrive at the circuit and you see so many fans outside and around the track and city too. Of course, we know they all save their strongest support for their own Brazilian drivers but everyone in Formula 1 gets a strong welcome. You and Pastor were very close throughout the last race? I wasn’t happy with how he got past me at the start in Mexico so I was determined to keep him behind me at the end of the race. It’s great that the fans could see both the Lotus F1 Team cars racing so close, although we all wish it was racing further up the order! I think we got pretty much everything we could from the car in Mexico. What are your other thoughts on the Mexican Grand Prix? Like everyone I was very impressed by it. It was a great event. The track was really good, the facilities were very impressive, the fans were knowledgeable and enthusiastic and it was a really rewarding and enjoyable weekend.

We are going from one of the newest circuits on the calendar to one of the oldest; what do you think of Interlagos? Interlagos may not have the most impressive infrastructure these days but it is a great, historic circuit. I really love the track, the atmosphere and the people. Brazilians have such a great Formula 1 heritage and for me it will be great to be at another event where there are a lot of Venezuelans in the crowds. Hopefully we can have a great race and put on another good show for the South American fans. What are the challenges of the layout? Technically it’s always tricky to find a set-up balance between the twisty parts of the circuit and the long straights. In an ideal world you’d want Monza-spec for the start and end of the lap and Hungaroring-spec for the rest! Different drivers and teams will make different compromises, which all adds up to an interesting race. Some will go for greater straight-line speed to help them pass and defend in the race, others more downforce for a better lap time and less sliding. Bumps can also be an issue and there are several overtaking opportunities on the track which rewards late braking, both to go on the attack and keep rivals behind. Last but not least the unpredictable weather is sure to keep us on our toes. We’ve seen some epic races in Interlagos where wet weather has been a factor and thunderstorms are present… We all know the amount of rain which can fall in Sao Paulo and the Interlagos track even has grooves cut into it to help the water flow off the track! It’s a challenging circuit in the dry and even more so in the wet, but there have been some amazing races over the years because of this. One of the great aspects of racing at Interlagos is you can almost feel the vibe of the crowd as well as hear their enthusiasm, even when the rain is falling. Whatever the weather, we’ll be pushing for the best result possible. How do you look back over the Mexican Grand Prix weekend? It was a superb return to Mexico for Formula 1 and it was enjoyable for everyone. We received a warm welcome and the facilities were spectacular. For a first race back after so many years off the calendar it was such a well-run and superbly organised Grand Prix. It’s certainly an event I’m really looking forward to on the calendar for many future seasons. How did you enjoy your race-long battle with Romain? I made a better start than him so it was great to get ahead, but then we lost that through traffic at my first pit stop. After that we were always very close on track, even when we were fighting other cars. At the end of the race I felt much quicker but it is a hard place to pass. Nevertheless I kept pushing as that’s what racers do. I would have been happier finishing in front, but we both delivered well for the team and hopefully gave the fans plenty of excitement too. Are you hoping to show more fighting spirit for the final two races of 2015? I always want to show fighting spirit! We have two races to end the year, at two very different race tracks. We want to score as many points as possible and we’ll be doing everything we can to achieve that. I’m never scared to race whoever else is after the same points I’m pursuing so we’ll definitely keep fighting till the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.

Interlagos is quite an old-school track. What are the idiosyncrasies of it from an engineering perspective? It is a tricky circuit to find the right set-up. The middle sector is very twisty with a lot of low speed turns and then the final sector which is essentially a long uphill corner on to a very long straight. You rely on strong engine power and delivery for the straight. You need a nice stable car for the twisty mid-section where a driver wants a strong turn-in without much understeer, and you want strong traction on exit after a balanced mid-section. The compromise on how to run on downforce is quite challenging. You want to take downforce off for the last sector but then want it on for the other sectors. We tend to rely on where the simulation suggests will be the best compromise. We normally don’t run on full downforce which is probably what we will do again this weekend. From an engineering perspective, what was learnt in Mexico? It was quite a big challenge. We knew before we went that the high altitude was going to give us a lot of obstacles to overcome – for instance we’d only have 70% of the downforce that we’d have at sea level, 70% of the drag and 70% of the cooling. Cooling was the biggest issue. We made bodywork changes and adapted the brake ducts. Fortunately everything worked as required so it was a good job done by the team in that regard. Seeing both cars pass the chequered flag was rewarding. It would have been nice to have been further up the order, but it was good to see validation of all the simulation work we’d done in advance of the event. What lessons in particular were learnt for next time? We have a lot of data from over the weekend so we’ll be better prepared for our return. Having both cars complete race distances is very useful here as we can compare, contrast and analyse performance better. Certainly we saw the track surface evolve a lot over the course of the weekend which allows us to make better calls for the future in terms of tyre usage. Did you enjoy the race-long dice between Romain and Pastor? I’m happy as long as they don’t touch! They were fair with each other and both cars finished so it was fine. What are your thoughts on a potential ‘client engine’ to a different configuration to the existing regulations? It’s quite a can of worms. A two-tier championship would be very difficult to operate. There would be so many different challenges for equalisation and this would be exceedingly difficult with engines of different characteristics. How’s progress with next year’s car? We’re well progressed through the design process and most of the layout has been done. We’ve learnt a lot over the past two seasons and all this knowledge is being put into next year’s car. There hasn’t been the greatest amount of development through the year on the E23, so we’ve been able to dedicate quite a bit of additional manpower to our 2016 challenger. Manufacture of some of the parts is already underway and we’re looking at a lot of the final detailing currently.

After the success of the Mexican Grand Prix are you looking forward to further fan fever in Sao Paulo? Mexico was a great event and it was really fabulous for a new event to be such a success. But now we head to Interlagos where we have enjoyed so many fabulous and dramatic races over the years and where we always get a warm welcome too. Tamas Rohonyi and his team do a superb job of promoting the Brazilian Grand Prix. There is a real passion for Formula 1 in Brazil and when you consider names like Senna, Piquet and Fittipaldi it’s not hard to understand why. Brazilian success in Formula 1 has been a real way for the country to make its mark in the international sphere so the appreciation of it has added magnitude. Like in Mexico, the circuit is located in a very big city so we see many fans at the track as well as on the way to and from the circuit. What makes Interlagos such a great track for Formula 1? What makes it rewarding for us is seeing so many excited fans at the circuit. Why they come is to see their heroes race on a rollercoaster circuit which doesn’t let drivers rest for a minute. There’s a relentless energy in a lap of Interlagos and whether you’re in the car or watching from the stands or on television you can feel this. We have seen so many exciting races here over the years, with the passion of so many drivers really coming through. The Latin temperament appreciates emotions being shown and we have seen so many different ones on display here from so many drivers. Will you be packing a rain coat? We’ve seen some pretty extreme weather at and around the last couple of events so I’ll definitely be prepared for all eventualities. We’ve seen extreme conditions at Sao Paulo in years past so we won’t be too surprised if it happens again. Certainly, any rain does not seem to dampen the enthusiasm from the fans and the track becomes yet more of a challenge for the drivers. Let’s see what happens. The Mexican Grand Prix saw very close racing from Pastor and Romain; how was that viewed from the pit wall? We enjoyed watching them race. Of course, we’d have preferred to have seen them racing for more points through virtue of being higher up the order, but the drive and intent of both was clear to see. That they were both so close for the entirety of the race at a brand new venue for both of them shows how well they are extracting the performance from the car. All drivers want to end their seasons with very strong races and we have different motivations from both. Romain is heading to pastures new next year and wants to end his time at Enstone as strongly as possible whereas Pastor is as motivated as ever. It was a great battle. With two races remaining, what’s the plan? We’re putting everything into finishing the season as well as possible. It’s been a hard fight for us this year, in some ways even harder than 2014, but we keep pushing looking to maximise every opportunity that comes our way. When can we expect further announcements about the future from the team? In due course. There’s no point dancing faster than the music!