Lotus T128

The Lotus T128, known before its launch by the project number TL11, was a Formula One car designed by Mike Gascoyne, Lewis Butler and Marianne Hinson for Team Lotus in the 2011 season. It was launched online on 31 January 2011 and was driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, who stayed with the team from 2010. The car replaced the Cosworth engine of its predecessor with a Renault RS27 unit and swapped the Xtrac transmission for one from Red Bull Technology, while the bladed roll bar echoed a Mercedes idea of 2010. The team ran the whole season without a kinetic energy recovery system. Team Lotus was eliminated in the first qualifying session of the Australian Grand Prix, but the T128 was faster than the Virgin and HRT cars throughout the year.