The Lotus 102 was a car that the Lotus team competed in Formula One from 1990 to 1992.
History[]
1990[]
For the 1990 season, both drivers Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima from the previous season would be replaced by Derek Warwick and Martin Donnelly, making it a double-British line-up. Lotus changed their engine supplier from Judd to Lamborghini.
However, Lotus went struggling throughout the season, scoring only 3 points, its lowest since 1958. Warwick scored all three points with a 6th place in Canada and a 5th place in Hungary. Donnelly did not score any points.
It was the unreliability of the Lamborghini 3512 engine which costed Lotus in 1990, and the performance of the car resulted in the departure of Camel sponsorship.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, Martin Donnelly had a horrible crash at Turn 12 during qualifying. The injuries were so severe that he would be replaced by Johnny Herbert for the remainder of the season.
Fortunately, in December 1990, Peter Collins and Peter Wright bought the team.
1991[]
Lotus designed a B-spec version of the 102 for the 1991 season. The heavy and unreliable Lamborghini V12 engine would be replaced by the Judd EV V8 engine.
The drivers were Finnish rookie Mika Häkkinen and British Julian Bailey. Lotus' first points finish came at 1991 San Marino Grand Prix, where Häkkinen and Bailey both finished 5th and 6th respectively. After this race, the team did not score any further points throughout the season.
After the Monaco Grand Prix, Bailey left the team and he was replaced fellow Brit Johnny Herbert. Meanwhile Herbert had commitments with the Japanese Formula 3000, German driver Michael Bartels filled in the seats for the German, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix, only failing to qualify four times.
The Lotus 102C specification incorporated an Isuzu V12 engine that had been developed throughout the season. But, the 102C never raced.
1992[]
Lotus upgraded their 102 car to a D-spec version for the 1992 season. Being fitted with a Ford Cosworth HBA5 V8 engine, the car was used for the first 5 races of the season. Herbert and Häkkinen scored points in the first two races of the season with the 102D chassis. It was replaced by the Lotus 107 for the rest of the season.
Complete Formula One Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Driver | Tyre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |||
| 1990 | 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
 Warwick
|
G | Ret | Ret | 7th | Ret | 6th | 10th | 11th | Ret | 8th | 5th | 11th | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||
| Donnelly
|
Ret | Ret | 8th | Ret | Ret | 8th | 12th | Ret | Ret | 7th | 12th | Ret | Ret | DNS | |||||||
| Herbert
|
Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1991 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
 Häkkinen
|
G | 13th | 9th | 5th | Ret | Ret | 9th | DNQ | 12th | Ret | 14th | Ret | 14th | 14th | Ret | Ret | 19th | ||||
| Bailey
|
DNQ | DNQ | 6th | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| Herbert
|
DNQ | 10th | 10th | 14th | 7th | Ret | Ret | 11th | |||||||||||||
 Bartels
|
DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
| Häkkinen
|
G | 9th | 6th | 10th | Ret | DNQ | |||||||||||||||
| Herbert
|
6th | 7th | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||||
Notes[]
Quotes[]
"John, those brake ducts shaking around a lot." Andrew Marriott to John Watson. Eurosport. First Qualifying. 1990 San Marino Grand Prix.
"Well it is a Lotus Andrew, but probably shouldn't shake that much" John Watson to Andrew Marriott. Eurosport. First Qualifying. 1990 San Marino Grand Prix.