Lotus E20 (2012) Nosecone - Räikkönen

The E20 was the entrant for the Lotus F1 Team for the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship® season. It was named in tribute to the contribution of Enstone, the home of Lotus, as the E20 became the twentieth Formula One car to be designed there. The car was the first from Enstone to purely carry the Lotus name as the team was renamed from Lotus Renault GP at the end of the previous season, though the team continued to use Renault power units. The E20 was driven by 2007 World Drivers' Champion Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean, fresh from becoming the 2011 GP2 Series champion, both of whom were returning to Formula One after a two-year absence. Jérôme d'Ambrosio, reserve driver for the year, replaced Romain Grosjean for the Italian Grand Prix after a one race ban for causing multiple collisions in the previous race round in Belgium.

Despite testing problems, the team withdrew from pre-season testing in Barcelona due to a front suspension problem, the E20 had showed a lot of potential but Lotus would struggle to capitalise on its performance, letting itself down with poor race management and all too frequent clashes on track. The third and fourth races of the season showed the E20’s pace as, in Bahrain, the team scored a double podium finish and, in Spain, the team finished third and fourth. Further podiums came in Canada, Valencia, Germany and Belgium whilst another the team managed another double podium in Hungary. The elusive race win eluded Lotus until three races from the end of the season, where, despite Grosjean crashing out, Räikkönen made the most of an electrical fault in Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren and took victory, holding off Championship-chasing Fernando Alonso in the process and earning the Lotus name its first win since 1987, when Ayrton Senna took the chequered flag in Detroit.

Overall, the E20 achieved one race win and nine further podiums to finish as the ‘best of the rest’ behind Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes, achieving fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with 303 points.

This fine 1:12 scale model nosecone is of the Lotus E20 as driven by Kimi Räikkönen. Räikkönen finished every race and only failed to score once, in China, when his race was compromised by poor tyre management. He achieved six podium finishes and Lotus’ first victory for twenty-five years, when he took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. Consequently, he finished third the Drivers’ Championship on 207 points, 74 points behind the eventual winner Sebastian Vettel. Räikkönen was also responsible for one of the most bizarre Formula One incidents of all time: in the final race of the season in Brazil, where he left the circuit after losing control and, in attempting to re-join the circuit, used a support lane paddock, only to find his way blocked, forcing him to turn around. He later was reported to say that he had the done the exact same thing in 2001 but the paddock gate which thwarted him had been open.

This model has been handcrafted and finished in our workshops with the co-operation and assistance of the manufacturer regarding original finishes, materials, archive imagery and drawings. The use of supremely accurate digital scanning of the original car has allowed us to perfectly recreate every detail at scale. Furthermore, it has undergone detailed scrutiny by both engineering and design teams to ensure complete accuracy of representation.

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This model is one of many in our collection of miniature nosecones.

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