Lotus confident of position
With five races remaining in the Formula One championship season, Lotus has had a fairly decent run this year, maintaining a top position against the rest of the new 2010 F1 teams. Technical director Mike
Gascoyne is confident that Lotus’ current track record, combined with a few minor upgrades, will ensure that it will stay ahead of the game.
“I think we'll be able to maintain the advantage we have over our nearest rivals on what is a pretty high downforce track,” Gascoyne stated, according to AUTOSPORT.com. “The track is bumpy and some of
the kerbs are pretty high, so being able to deal with the bumps and the kerbs well is important. Both our drivers have reported that they feel like the car deals well with uneven surfaces, and they have the confidence to attack the kerbs in the T127, so let's
see what happens.”
The other new teams, Virgin Racing and Hispania Racing, have failed to make an impact on their debut season this year with zero points in both championships. Though Lotus shares the same number, their
results have been sufficient enough during qualifying and racing to place them in front of the other teams. With the remaining tracks reasonably suited to Lotus’ technical composition, they stand a good chance of finishing tenth.
In its first season back at F1 since its collapse in 1994, Lotus has implemented a series of changes to the car, and is looking forward to partnering up with Renault in 2011 for the engine as part of its
technical makeover. Team boss Tony Fernandes informed the BBC F1 Forum that, “We want to move up the grid and we want to be up there with the Red Bulls and Ferraris in years to come – we're not going to do that overnight but we've got to make those constant
steps forwards.”
Also resurrecting the legendary “Team Lotus,” name for next year, the team is predicted to announce its future prospects at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Tags: