Jarno Trulli has bemoaned his luck in the first four races of the season, having only finished the one.
He told Italy’s Autosprint magazine that whilst he knew it would take time for the new Lotus team to get up to pace and sort out some of its reliability issues, he seems to be the only one encountering issues, whilst teammate Heikki Kovalainen has managed to finish three of the four races.
“Obviously I knew that it wouldn’t be easy, that everything would be new and we would need time,” the Italian said.
“However, I had expected at least to drive. Instead, after four races I did not start once and when I got to the finish, it was because it was decided I should take the chequered flag but in far from ideal conditions.
“Bad luck seems to persevere on my car, everything happens on my car and my car only. So, to this day, my expectations have not been met.
“It’s still early days to judge, we need more time for a reliable judgement. I knew it would be tough, but I practically haven’t driven yet. I’ll pass judgement at the end of the year.”
The race to be the best newcomer is certainly a title Lotus have a strong grasp on, an achievement Trulli recognises, but with 15 races remaining that could change.
“On paper, our team is definitely the best among the new outfits in F1,” he added.
“We operate like a real team in the top series, but unfortunately we are only at 10% of our potential because of [a] lack of time.”
The ex-Toyota driver is already looking forward to next year, when Lotus can concentrate on the design of the car, having formed a solid base in 2010.
“There’s no testing, and the racing weekend is the only chance to test. For us this is our apprenticeship year: we’ll see the potential in 2011, when many structural problems will be behind and we’ll be able to concentrate on the design of the new car.”
