Lotus aims to challenge Renault and Williams in 2011
Lotus is aiming to fight for points against Renault and Williams-Cosworth by the end of the 2011 Formula One season. The team is confident of an aggressive season ahead.
The team’s chief technical officer, Mike Gascoyne stated, “I think when you look at this car (2011 car), it looks like a front-running car in every area. We've said very clearly that we want to start challenging the established teams, and I think that's very achievable.”
He further added that the team will start the season fighting for points against teams like Force-India, Torro Rosso and Sauber, but are hoping to challenge some of the more experienced opponents on the grid by the end of the season.
Gascoyne admitted that all the other teams would have improved from last season, but he claimed that Lotus had a better opportunity compared to all the other teams.
He said that the margin of improvement for Lotus was huge as the team was new last year but this year there had been significant changes in the team. He said that the team had the resources required to improve and that there would be a marked difference compared to last year’s performance by the end of the 2011 season.
The team is also confident of finishing in the top ten and the team’s chief operating officer, Keith Saunt claimed, “I think we're targeting eighth strategically, but I doubt there'll be a lot between sixth, seventh and eighth. Depending on how the other guys are doing, seventh could be achievable.”
Lotus will not be starting the season with the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). The team didn’t rule out the use of KERS in the season but said that it would be better to start without it. According to the team’s chief designer, Lewis Butler, the team decided against the KERS because they would have been required to compromise too many things in order to go with the system.
The team was of the view that KERS would not help them to gain positions in the overall rankings. The importance of KERS will be more this year compared to the 2009 season. The teams which used KERS in 2009 had a disadvantage of carrying extra weight with the car.
However, the minimum weight of the cars will be increased this year and following that rule, the KERS may come-in handy for the teams.
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