Team Lotus Looks Beyond Australian Grand Prix Results To Focus On Car Pace

Team Lotus has expressed satisfaction with the results achieved at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, where Jarno Trulli finished in 15th and Heikki Kovalainen retired due to a water leak. Despite not being able to move up the ranking table, the entire team was encouraged by the pace shown by both cars, which, Team Lotus believes, can be even faster during the next race on Sepang, Malaysia.

“It was really good to finish the race and to show that there is some pace in the car, despite some of the problems we have had to work through this weekend”, Trulli said. His teammate Kovalainen concurred: “Until the retirement, I was very pleased with my own performance. I had a good start and was then staying with Alguersuari and Perez until the water leak brought my race to an end”.

“After a pretty tough weekend, I am very pleased with both Jarno and Heikki's race performances”, Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne said. “Our speed in the race was much more representative of the pace we had shown in testing, so for Malaysia the target is to make sure we achieve that level throughout the whole weekend”.

Team Principal Tony Fernandes also acknowledged the good pace exhibited by both cars as in the pre-season tests, pointing out how Team Lotus was able to keep pace with the midfield teams—a key target set for the 2011 Formula One season—even though the end results may not show it at the moment.