Mike Gascoyne says Lotus will show its true colour at home circuit of Sepang Malaysia – Formula 1
The Chief Technical Officer of Lotus, Mike Gascoyne, feels that the real power of the Lotus cars will be revealed in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Mike said that the Australian Grand Prix did not go as planned because the tyre temperatures were not as expected.
He added that the car will perform well at the home circuit of Sepang.
The Lotus team had a good pre-season testing session. They had a reliable car, but the speed of the Renault powered machine was a big concern. Their Free Practice Racing in Australia was not a good one, as the newly hired test driver, Karun Chandhok, took
the car out and crashed it.
Talking about the Melbourne race, Gascoyne explained that the tyre temperatures were not good, as a result of which, both Lotus’ cars did not performed well. Gascoyne said, “We left Australia with mixed feelings about the race, Heikki's pace in the early
laps was a good step forward for us, and Jarno's race pace took us close to what we showed in the pre-season tests we can do.”
Lotus’ duo, Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, started the Australian Grand Prix in 19th and 20th grid positions respectively. Jarno went on to finish the race in 13th position, but Heikki was unable to finish because his
car had a water leak after which he retired.
The Lotus team were able to be ahead of the Virgin team, but finished behind their old rivals, Force India and Toro Rosso. Mike commented that the team will perform well in the Malaysian Grand Prix in front of the home crowd. The Malaysian team owner, Tony
Fernandes, also commented that, “Team Lotus returns home and we are all excited about the race ahead. There will be three teams here with links to Malaysia but only one team that has Malaysian blood running deep in its veins.”
The Malaysian Grand Prix starts on 8 April and the Malaysian team will try to do better in front of the home crowd and beat the Toro Rosso and Force India.
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