Nick Chester (GBR) Lotus Technical Director. Formula One World Championship, Rd18, United States Grand Prix, Race, Austin, Texas, USA, Sunday, 17 November 2013 © Sutton Images. No reproduction without permission
Lotus have already released some images of the Renault-powered car, which features a highly unusual, asymmetric split-nose design - one which has garnered much speculation over its legality, but which the team are confident complies with the 2014 regulations.
“We’re very happy with the direction we have taken and it will be very interesting to see how the cars perform once we get a proper chance to compare them on track,” technical director Nick Chester told the Lotus website.
“Where there are so many variations in design, there is always bound to be a little talk, but we remain relaxed and focussed on our design and progression.”
Friday’s shakedown is likely to attract more attention than normal, given the limited running achieved by the other Renault teams, most notably Red Bull, last week following a number of problems with the French firm’s new power unit.
Despite this, Lotus believe their development programme with the E22 is progressing well and Chester is confident of a strong showing when the car makes its test debut proper alongside its rivals in Bahrain later this month.
“Yes, the car’s coming together pretty well now,” he said. “The build is well advanced and we think we’ll be in good shape for Bahrain come the next test.”
That test, at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, takes place on February 19-22.