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a vital investment in the future of the sport. And we have to make sure that we are getting the most out of the current set of regulations so that our team has understood precisely where the boundary line is between what is and what is not permitted. Generally speaking, what isn’t permitted is higher performance than what is, so you need to run right up to the boundary and understand where the loopholes are, where grey areas are and stay the right side of that line. Management of technical risk is something else that I have to look at. In every year there are aspects of the car that are more or less the same, from a design point of view, as the year before, but there are also aspects that – if not a step into the unknown – do constitute a new development or new method of designing a part or realising a part. Every time you do something you haven’t done before, there is an element of technical risk. The technical director decides how much we can bite off and chew and has to be responsible for putting in place programmes that mitigate that risk in case it doesn’t pay off for us. DL: To pick up on the thrills, what do you find thrilling about the job? JA: I find lots of aspects of it thrilling. I have been in Formula 1 for over twenty years now and in whatever position I have occupied, I have always found it exhilarating that the sport affords the most direct and immediate feedback about the quality of your work. What the team
LOTUS ENGINEERING
designs ends up being realised on the car in a very short timescale and then it gets measured in a completely inescapable fashion. There’s no doubting who’s done the best job because there is a very, very clear way of establishing that and that’s taking a car and putting it on a track and seeing who is fastest. That is utterly thrilling. The other part of it that has always been fun,and this fun has only increased as I have been given added responsibility, is that Formula 1 is all about teamwork. Anyone working in the sport has a very strong sense that they are part of a team that is all focused on one goal. In the best teams that feeling is very strong. It is a great feeling to be part of a group activity where everyone has put a lot of themselves into a project, where everyone cares a lot about it, where they know that not only their own wealth and the well-being of their families depends on it, but also that their sense of professional achievement is utterly dependent on how quick an exquisitely assembled bit of carbon-fibre, rubber and metal goes around the track. Sharing that experience with the team is thrilling and to be fortunate enough to try to lead the technical team and motivate the technical team, in this environment, is extremely rewarding. When stuff goes well you feel like king of the world. It’s a great feeling and it’s very direct and very immediate when it’s going well. DL: And I guess, as well as the highs, there can be big lows as well...