Kimi Raikkonen is confident that Lotus can build a competitive car, given the teams previous history, when the outfit was known as Renault.
The Finnish driver was present at the launch of the team’s 2012 car, dubbed the E20, in which he and teammate Romain Grosjean unveiled.
“I think these people know how to build a good car, and even the biggest teams cannot produce a winning car every year,” said the 32-year-old.
“They are very capable people and they have a good feeling about things and they’re pushing hard so hopefully we will get good results.”
When asked if he was nervous, given he hasn’t raced in Formula 1 since he drove for Ferrari back in 2009, he replied: “Not really.
“It will be something slightly different to what it used to be when I was in Formula 1 before – with a different team and different regulations, but everybody’s different. For some people it’s more difficult to get used to new stuff.
“And it depends a lot on the car – if you have a good car it makes your life easier than if you have an average car. I was pretty happy after the first test we did two weeks ago. It felt pretty normal already.
“I think it will be okay but before the first race it’s really difficult to say still. We’ll wait and see but I’m happy with how everything is going.”
