Pastor Maldonado believes Lotus can secure a top five position at the Spanish Grand Prix if everything goes well and the car delivers its maximum potential.
With the team having failed to score a single point in the opening four races, some would see it an unlikely goal, but the Venezuelan is expecting a step forward in Barcelona thanks to both car and power unit upgrades.
“I’m expecting to be more competitive,” said Maldonado. “It will be very important to start scoring some points, but if everything goes well and we get some luck too then a top five is possible.
“It is going to be difficult – there are the two Mercedes and two Red Bulls and then others who have shown good pace in recent races like Force India – but if we get 100% from the car we can fight all of the other teams and come away with something good to build on.”
Maldonado says the team needs to get some points on the board if it’s to recover from a poor start to 2014, catch-up with its rivals and build confidence within the team.
“It is vital because this team and the drivers are used to scoring lots of them,” he added. “But more importantly it will act as a trigger for more confidence throughout the team and it will mean we can act on that and feed off it.
“The races after Barcelona are Monaco and Montreal where many variables usually happen. We have to be in the right place to take advantage of these and to enable a good platform for the summer.”
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