The Lotus E21 is a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including ...

designed and built by the

Lotus F1 Lotus F1 Team was a British Formula One racing team. The team competed under the Lotus name from until , following the renaming of the former Renault in Formula One, Renault team based at Enstone in Oxfordshire. The Lotus F1 Team was majority ...

team for use in the 2013 championship. The chassis was designed by

James Allison James Allison or Jim Allison may refer to: * James Allison (pirate) (fl. 1689–1691), pirate active near Cape Verde and the Bay of Campeche * James Allison Jr. (1772–1854), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania * James Wh ...

Nick Chester Nick Chester (born 22 March 1969) is a motorsport engineer. Early life Chester graduated in engineering from Cambridge University in 1991. Career Chester joined Simtek Research in vehicle simulation, moving to their Formula One entry in 1994 ...

, Martin Tolliday and

Dirk de Beer Dirk Laurie de Beer (born 2 June 1963) is a South African Formula One aerodynamicist. He was most recently the head of aerodynamics at the Alpine team until March 2024. Biography De Beer joined Renault in 2008, where he worked under Dino Toso un ...

with

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

supplying the team's engines. The car was driven by

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Kimi Räikkönen Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "the Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One ...

and

Romain Grosjean Romain David Jeremie Grosjean (; born 17 April 1986) is a French and Swiss racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Lamborghini and serves as a reserve driver in the IndyCar Series for Prema. Grosjean competed under ...

, both of whom remained with the team after competing in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. The E21 was the first of the 2013 season cars to be launched.

Design

Despite the perpetual troubles the team experienced with the "passive

Drag Reduction System In motor racing, the drag reduction system (DRS) is a form of driver-adjustable bodywork aimed at reducing aerodynamic drag in order to increase top speed and promote overtaking. It is an adjustable rear wing of the car, which moves in response ...

" device on the E20 chassis, which spent most of the 2012 season in development without ever being raced, the E21 was launched with a passive DRS device of its own. Following criticism of the cars raced in 2012 for being "ugly" because of a visible step in the design of the nose, the 2013 technical regulations allowed teams to use a "modesty panel", or a small piece of carbon fibre designed to cover the nose of the car for aesthetic purposes. However, the E21 was launched without a modesty panel, as the team felt that it offered no aerodynamic benefit, and that the aesthetic qualities it offered were not worth the added weight, however slight the weight gain might be.

Season summary

The E21 proved to be a competitive car across the 2013 season with one victory at the season opener at

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and the car would claim 14 podiums by the end of the season. Eventually, the team finished 4th in the Constructors' Championship with 315 points.

Sponsorship and livery

Lotus went into the 2013 season with subtle livery changes. While the overall design was similar, the only difference was an additional red accents. In Monaco, the team collaborated with

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

to promote their latest album, ''

Random Access Memories ''Random Access Memories'' is the fourth and final studio album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released on 17 May 2013 through Columbia Records. It pays tribute to late Music history of the United States in the 1970s, 1970s and e ...

''. The Daft Punk logo appeared on the rear wing, while the chassis sported their helmet designs as they appear on the album cover on each side of the car. In Korea, the Renault logos were badged as Renault Samsung. The car also notably featured a different

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

at every race, often referencing food of the visited country or other pop culture elements through puns. In pre-season testing in

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, the hashtag was " #SexyAndIKnowIt". In Abu Dhabi, to tie in with the

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

festivities, the hashtag was "#AlloWin?" with a pumpkin design, referring to a pun in french: "Allô Win? Ici Trouille!".

Quantum Motorsports

Mansoor Ijaz Mansoor Ijaz (born August 1961) is a Pakistani-American venture financier and hedge-fund manager. He is founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management Ltd, a New York and London-based investment firm that operates ''CARAT'', a proprietary ...

, head of the Quantum Motorsports consortium, was involved in a proposed but ultimately unsuccessful deal to acquire a 35% stake in the team in summer 2013. The deal, which would have seen Quantum acquire the stake from majority owner

Genii Capital Genii Capital (simply known as Genii and stylized as GƎИII) is an international financial advisory and investment firm, which specialises in brand management, technology, motorsport and a range of venture capital activities. It was created in ...

, was announced in the summer of 2013 but faced repeated delays. While Ijaz claimed the deal was complete from his side, the transaction was never finalized.

Complete Formula One results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed greater than 90% of the race distance.

References

External links

Official website of the Lotus F1 Team
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lotus E21 E21