Karun Chandhok says it is difficult for Lotus to make an impact in 2011 midfield – Formula 1 news
Lotus reserve driver Karun Chandhok has said that it seems difficult for his team that they could make their impact amongst the midfield running teams in the remainder of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Chandhok added that no doubt the team driver Jarno Trulli made some progress at the start of the season, especially at the Australian Grand Prix, he could not perform well for the team due to some issues after that.
The Indian driver discussed the Shanghai and Barcelona race weekends and said, “We made some progress at the start of the year; if you look at Shanghai for example and Barcelona, we were within half a second of the midfield and Q2 so we thought 'OK we look
alright', and then they started chucking big updates at it.”
He went on to mention, “But the guys are working flat out and it's difficult because you're trying to build an infrastructure internally in terms of the team structure but also you're trying to expand your aero department and you're still trying to do updates
on this year's car; it's tough.”
The 27-year-old driver admitted that they have been unable to have good qualifying rounds in the 2011 season so far.
In the recently held European Grand Prix, both the drivers, Heikki Kovalainen and Trulli started their race from the 19th and 20th places respectively on the grid. The Valencia race weekend was unlucky for the team, as the drivers managed
to finish their race at their qualifying session positions.
Apart from that, Chandhok informed the media that Lotus’ new technical director Mark Smith has started work for the team from May 2011. In addition, he said that he is hopeful the reward of his work will be seen in the 2012 season.
The team reserve driver further added that they will have to do better in the qualifying rounds of the upcoming race weekends if they want positive results in the season.
The British Grand Prix will take place at the Silverstone circuit on July 10, 2011.
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