LOTUS’S TWO PRONGED ATTACK! (Literally): The Story of the Lotus E22 (2014)

In 2004, Williams tried the Walrus Nose. In 2014, with new regulations, Lotus tried it again. Neither really worked, but could the tusks on the E22 have worked with a bit more investment given Lotus's financial woes at the time? Let's have a look.
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[@AidanMillward]

If you're wondering why my logo suddenly appears: I forgot to put my phone face down, and my lock screen is a picture of my wife. Given she's a teacher, then covering her up makes sense. Rip me. Also F1 Miami GP swag now available. Link in de-scrip-she-yon.

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

Makes sense. No point in asking for trouble. Hope you're feeling better today. I take it you are given you're on screen! If not, hope you're better soon.

[@simontravers2715]

Had to go back & check for logo then, was expecting one large one in middle of screen, now I noticed. What does your wife say to naughty students? Off to the steward’s office? 😆

[@Tacko14]

First rule of Teams or any of those: show us the cat! Play that guitar! It becomes iffy when there’s a kid around. Grown ups are a no go. But I’d like it if you played us a riff every now and then. Just a doodle, nothing copyrighted or dazzling. I did during lockdown onlines, and others picked it up from there. A lot of my colleagues are quite musical :)

[@Karlywoo_Plays]

sounds like a problem

[@eamonahern7495]

Glad you got over whatever ailment prevented you from making an appearance in the last video.

[@tacticalginger9623]

Take a drink every time Aidan says "problem"

[@AidanMillward]

Too late. I’m in A&E

[@tacticalginger9623]

@@AidanMillward That's a problem

[@otrab1080]

Lotus having the two most crash prone drivers in F1 driving for them was also a problem.

[@demiquadfpv3333]

Having a driver with a website dedicated to days since he last crashed : big problem

[@CyanRooper]

Anybody remember the GIF of the 2014 McLaren F1 car sticking it's nose in the 2014 Lotus F1 car's (double) nose? One of the funniest F1 GIFs I've ever seen.

[@TheShrike616]

I loved that livery, and the fact Kimi … well destroyed that team by being too good.

[@Hugh.Gilbert]

Drink every time Aidan says "problem"

[@the80hdgaming]

I am the walrus car... Coo coo ka-chow!!! 😂😂😂

[@charamia9402]

I'll just leave a recommendation here for the Ratzenberger video. It's every bit as high quality as we've come to expect from Aidan, and I'm very happy Ratzenbergers story is being told.

[@fuller9x]

Lotus and Torro Rosso were simply showing us how baby F1's are formed

[@kevinprior3549]

Pretty much what I was thinking

[@smith2781]

The McLaren nose was the worst. It looked like something that my wife would keep in her top drawer 😂.

[@fuller9x]

@@smith2781 that or the Caterham were very much hysteria release weapons

[@smith2781]

@@fuller9x 😂🤣. Yeah the designers must of got their inspiration from an Ann Summers shop. After all they do spend a long time away from home 😂.

[@alexshank1414]

Thank you for not being cliché and doing a Senna video like everyone else. There are already so many Senna videos out there.

[@AidanMillward]

There will always be someone upset or calling me disrespectful. Best to acknowledge it before they can fire off a shot.

[@alexshank1414]

@@AidanMillward Definitely. Confronting the possible backlash beforehand was a good call. Thanks for the in-depth info on the E22. Great detailing on why they chose that tusk nose arrangement.

[@TerribleFire]

I do not miss the Jonathan Legard days. He was a footie commentator for F1

[@ibex485]

Can't remember exactly which year it was, but in this period Lotus-Enstone were hit with a questionable FIA decision. They were developing their front-rear suspension interconnect system openly, keeping the FIA fully informed (as teams were 'strongly advised' to) and the guidance they received was that they considered it legal. Then at the last moment before the season began the FIA did a u-turn and declared it illegal. Quite apart from the fact their entire car is now compromised, developed around something which was banned at the last moment. For a cash strapped team, that's a hell of a lot of budget which could have been used elsewhere gone down the drain.

[@JohnSmithShields]

Well played on leaving any Newey reference to the very end. The original Storytime episode on him was spot on.

[@Djangles_LeVaughn]

That Lotus had a strong case of diphallia.

[@AidanMillward]

Giggity.

[@MrSniperfox29]

And the reason for Lotus having no money was.....Kimi being paid per point

[@AidanMillward]

He didn't take the money.

[@CyanRooper]

Breaking News: Racing team bankrupted by racing driver because he was too good. "I'm never gonna financially recover from this", said the team principal

[@MrSniperfox29]

@@AidanMillward Yes and no. The team reached the point where they couldn't pay him and when he quit he eventually gave up trying to get the money they owed him

[@ash3r123]

i genuinely feel sometimes that im the only one who really liked the design of this car, it was so much better looking than most of the 2014 grid imo

[@loubentodias]

Yeah agreed, and i also feel the same way about the walrus bmw

[@napalmpudding]

Low bar to clear tbh 😂

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

No I thought it was the best looking car that year. From a lot of angles it just looked like a regular low-slung nose, the black livery meant unless you really looked closely it at you didn't notice anything amiss. Unlike McLaren's dick nose, which looked horrendous from every possible angle.

[@hippyjason]

It was mostly relative, though. The 2014 Lotus only seemed good looking because she was least ugliest girl at the party that year. They were all hideous at some level.

[@Nick_Kearney]

I'll have to watch this one before bed. When I saw the Williams Walrus, I thought it was weird, but looked interesting. But the Enstone Walrus just looked wrong, but at least it wasn't a 2014 Caterham.

[@prettyprrrrettaygood]

Love the topics of late. Carry on!

[@Tacko14]

6:14 so you have a head of Aero and a chief Aero, a chief designer and a project leader. And some other blokes. That must’ve been some fun board meetings… they’re all hierarchical bosses! Pulling rank was a disaster area

[@LucasOliveira-tt2ll]

back in the day they said if a Toro Rosso and a Lotus crashed head on it might give birth to small kart

[@Kefuddle]

I take it you were aware you said "They were ahead of Mclaren who were behind them."

[@pommunist]

Curses! I had forgotten about Jonathan Legard commentating F1 back then "There he goes, round the corner, up the hill"

[@AidanMillward]

My mate Chaz Draycott did an iracing enduro in a team called Jonathan Legard’s Problem Problem. It was hilarious.

[@nutzernameba]

Conrats to exactly 100k! 🍻

[@minibus9]

awesome video again looking forward to the next one

[@ryanc6537]

Woah, that car was 10 years ago! Im getting old

[@kevinthomson557]

keep up the good work Aidan!

[@user-xq6fj2sd7z]

As always, excellent.

[@brad6630]

Crash Test Boffins sounds like an Alan Partridge straight to bargin bin video.

[@Tacko14]

I liked when F1 was still the mad scientist’s fieldlab. That’s exactly why I’m into F1 and not Indy or some such. But for that, testing needs to be reinstated. Without, experimenting is too dangerous. That being said, if I was ceo at Lotus and saw this, I’d veto it on grounds of taste alone. A big nose is bad enough, this one’s split and asymmetrical. There’s no pulling birds with a sniffer like this.

[@pianta4403]

Fun fact about the Lotus cars getting impounded, it was actually televised on the show (called in the Netherlands idk the English name) Deurwaarders UK.

[@andrewflies9119]

Thanks Aidan . That was a good problem to laugh at 😅

[@philrussell5258]

I finally see the nose for what it was. Thought my eyes were deceiving me but yes one prong was longer. I always thought the long one was hiding another shorter one on the left, meaning 3 prongs.

[@itseperkele181]

Ooh, theres a problem there!

[@AidanMillward]

Mate of mine ran an iRacing enduro with a team called Jonathan Legard's Problem Problem and carried a picture of his face on the roof.

[@itseperkele181]

@@AidanMillward I hope they had a automatic "theres a problem!" soundbite come on everytime they crashed or had a .... problem.

[@RageousMode]

Great video Aiden, clearly already prepared for release. But now I figure you're rapidly putting together a Newey follow-up video now that his departure is official.

[@AidanMillward]

Will probably have a look at it tomorrow once everyone's got their details out. I'm off duty as of the second this went up :P

[@insertgenericusernamehere2402]

I went to the 2014 Silverstone grand prix and got to walk down the pitlane, some of those cars so ugly that lotus was one of the few i didn't mind i remember seeing a woman averting her sons eyes from the front nose cone on the caterham car. It was incredibly phallic.

[@AidanMillward]

Everyone goes on about the Caterham but the Toro Rosso and the Force India were way worse.

[@insertgenericusernamehere2402]

​@@AidanMillwardoh there's no denying they were absolutely outrageous too, believe the angular cut of the front nose made it so awkward, if the "you Vs the person she tells you not to worry about" meme was a thing back then they definitely would make the cut. I recall the red bull being the only one in the field that looked like a normal car not a hoover nose or a phallic nose.

[@Lukeywoodsey]

Jonathan Legard's 2009 commentary was most definitely "a problem"

[@areasquirrel]

Maldonado joined. So the old joke, 'loose nut behind the wheel' was a pro- er, issue, as well. I am reminded of Legard when watching the archives on F1TV and switch through the commentary languages to hear the international 'reaction' to moments. Everything is 'ein problem' in the German commentary, even to this day. Those first 2 seasons 'back' at the BBC in '09 and '10... Dear Jesus. Stuck with Jonathan "Problems there!" Legard and Martin Brundle in commentary and the coverage presented by a charisma free robot named Jake Humphrey. I *really* missed ITV. I didn't think the stepped noses were ugly except for the Ferrari. It was so blocky that it looked to me that they'd screwed up the concept, so it wasn't even giving the desired performance, while the Red Bull was more to the point, and the other teams elegantly sculpted theirs with rounded edges. The Lotus was one of the best, creating an iconic image of the throwback gold livery with Kimi Raikkonen behind the wheel. He knew what to do... These tusks irritated me because they're not bloody symmetrical! It was easy to joke that they had so little money they couldn't afford tusks the same length. How that provided any kind of aero benefit never made any sense to me. It was like a floor device that wasn't on the floor.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

Legard made James Allen look competent and well informed and that's saying something.

[@AidanMillward]

James Allen wasn’t bad. It’s cos he was the guy that followed Murray.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

@@AidanMillward I could not stand Allen and his constant squarking. SniffPetrol ran that Stop the Dick thing, and I had one of those shirts in the day.

[@AidanMillward]

@@thatguyfromcetialphaV Allen could at least tell you what was going on instead of everything sounding like he’s making sure every line can fit on a highlight reel like Croft.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

@@AidanMillward Agreed. Crofty was good on 5 Live but the second Sky put him in the commentary box, the proverbial hit the fan.

[@wibbers01]

I remember the Caterham meme at the time. People photoshopped it's 'finger' to look like the 2nd mouth of a xenomorth.

[@kevinprior3549]

Would love your take on Adrian Newey leaving Red Bull. Plus the potential of him joining Hamilton at Ferrari next year.

[@UrMomsChauffer]

Really knocking out the content lately. Keep up the great work. Thanks for another great video.

[@andylambertz84]

100k 🎉😊

[@JohnSmithShields]

Is the problem the new Moreno?

[@AdamMGTF]

Glad your feeling better. Your last video I believe you said you had something going on so was no face to face

[@AidanMillward]

I had a fever and could barely keep my eyes open from not having slept. No idea where it came from. About 8pm on Sunday night I suddenly went freezing cold

[@AdamMGTF]

@@AidanMillward sounds like flu. Hope you get over it soon!

[@DukeofUndersteer]

You should do a story about Tommy Byrne!!!

[@neilrwilliams218]

The number of problems mentioned is something of... ...an issue!

[@duckrutt]

2011 Lotus Renault GP entered by Renault ie the black car Team Lotus entered by Lotus Renault (sans GP) ie the green car No relations

[@Stroke2Engineering]

It is still my strong belief, that the nose designs of the Lotus and the Caterham have their origins in discussions being held in the forum at F1Technical. I can remenber there were sketches shown long before there where any rumors on how the cars will look like.

[@lacosanostra20]

These are the stories I love to hear about Aidan the ones where There's no rule in the rule book that says they can't do it. Like Dale Earnhardt says it's not really cheating.It's just being innovative

[@mindujiman]

Does anyone else remember saying this car had a lot of potencial during pre season and then being one of the biggest flops? Something like the W13 with the no sidepods concept. It didn't work

[@VonBlade]

Issue. Drawback. Complication. Snag. Hitch. Trouble. Difficulty. Just for next time :D

[@johndaniels4623]

Tbh that would be a good video “when the factory Renault team ditched the Renault engine”

[@eamonahern7495]

I don't have a problem with the amount of times you said "problem" in this video

[@TomGorian]

May as well call this video the Lotus Problem

[@benshakespeare268]

I am the walrus.

[@AidanMillward]

Goo goo kachew.

[@cosmostrek512]

lotus used lotus 123 while williams was still using excel

[@matttheshadowman2790]

Not sure what was the bigger issue, the tusks or the fact they had Maldonaldo in the car

[@redfruit1968]

Maldonado wasn't an issue at all, he and Grosjean were pretty close on pace. But don't let facts stand in the way of your "haha Maldonado bad" brainrot.

[@hippyjason]

@@redfruit1968 Maldonado wasn't _bad,_ he certainly had good pace, sometimes even really good, front-running pace. He just had no ability to see the bigger picture in longer F1 races that in certain stages of the race you might have to dial it back to get the best ultimate best finish possible, and consequently he'd run into everybody around him when he was overdriving.

[@SpaceHCowboy]

Problem = Bother. As per Latte boy.

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

Christian Horner complaining to the FIA? Some mistake surely?

[@jamesburt3272]

Problem there

[@hippyjason]

Uh-oh. This accidental new meme might be a problem.

[@AidanMillward]

Only becomes one if people start mentioning it every fifteen seconds like the senna was pissed one did.

[@hippyjason]

@@AidanMillward Sorry mate, but I think this one might have some legs. Brace for impact. Or, better yet, if you want to take their focus off the 'problem', distract them with a even newer, different meme. You are getting pretty good at creating them, whether it's intentional or not. So, you might as well use that meme creation tool you seem to have hidden in your arsenal to your advantage.

[@davidmarecek1754]

Problem

[@AidanMillward]

Problem

[@kevinprior3549]

What if the "fingered" drivers put the front of their cars into the front on this Lotus-Renault? 🤔 😆

[@OkWineGuy]

For a man who loves Tim Hortons and the Blue Jays, the Bruins hat is a surprise. As a Senators fan; top notch troll Aidan.

[@AidanMillward]

I grew up near Boston in England. Thats the reason. 😅

[@marklittle8805]

I can respect the lack of Leaf hat, most Leaf fans will be burning theirs

[@AidanMillward]

@@marklittle8805 in spring, the leafs fall.

[@marklittle8805]

@@AidanMillward one day...one day they won't. I was 2 the last time they won. Being a Leaf fan is a masochistic exercise. When I was a child I was a Bruins fan and I should have stayed there lol

[@AidanMillward]

@@marklittle8805 I’m a Walsall fan I’m used to it tbh.

[@oxcart4172]

Gary Anderson doesn't have a degree in anything, afaik!

[@kevinprior3549]

That double-nosed front on that Lotus-Renault looked ugly. Looked like a pig, and the car performed like a dog.

[@Nikelaos_Khristianos]

Ah yes, the “phallus” noses. Don’t know why everyone didn’t just copy the way Williams had done it, tbh. But seriously, this was such a bad look for F1: the cars were quiet, ugly and slow…. Like what the hell were the FIA thinking?

[@mikecrimlis3366]

"Tusky boi"? That is unsub-worthy cringiness.

[@ifiwearthismaskyourefucked4095]

6:16 😂so lotus saw all the other cars penis nose design and they said let's try balls.

[@AidanMillward]

Or a vagina

[@JohnSmithShields]

He he he he said vagina.

[@ifiwearthismaskyourefucked4095]

@@AidanMillward I was thinking uneven and crash impact but that would have been insane if the car had ever spun around in front of the other cars.

[@simontravers2715]

Hey Aidan! I think this video has a problem! 🪷