Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer at Team Lotus, is bullish about his teams chances in 2011, admitting he hoped the new team would challenge Toro Rosso, Williams and Force India for a mid-table finish.
The British designer believes the team’s first season success – in which they finished top of the three new teams – was an encouraging start and allowed them to build a strong team back in Norfolk to push development of their 2011 car.
“The target last season was to be the best of the three new teams,” he told Malaysia’s Star newspaper. “But the real task was building the team behind the cars.
“Last season was all about putting experienced people in place so that we can build a better car for the coming season,” added Gascoyne.
“The target next season is to finish in the midfield, amongst the Toro Rosso, Williams and Force India [cars].”
Gascoyne might be bullish on their chances, but he isn’t getting carried away, despite his outfit securing the same engine and gearbox as used by this years double-world champions, Red Bull.
“Yes, we do have a possibly better engine and gearbox set-up than last season… but we have to be realistic.
“The engine and gearbox aren’t going to make you any quicker just like that. We can’t be saying that we will now be challenging Red Bull just because we have the same engine-gearbox set-up.”
