Last month, we heard Heikki Kovalainen’s views on the Lotus T128. The Finn said that this year’s car is now at the level that a modern F1 car should be, and that the mood at the Team Lotus camp is bouyant. To recap, the Malaysian owned team, which didn’t score any points in 2010, is targeting between 40 to 50 points this year.
Now we get to hear some comments from Jarno Trulli, who just finished testing the Renault powered T128 at Barcelona. The Italian says that TL has made a huge step forward.
“We have one of the best rear ends you can have in the paddock, because the gearbox is amazing, as well as the engine. Everything fits perfectly. The car looks good, and it looks quick as well,” he told Autosport. “If I have to compare to last year, it’s day and night. It’s a huge step forward, and everybody has been working really hard.”
The team wasn’t totally free of reliability issues in testing though, and Trulli gave hints that they won’t be starting the season in Australia in full flight. “So it might be difficult at the beginning, but maybe then we can get on top. Looking at the lap times it’s difficult to get a clear idea, but we can probably chase Force India and maybe Sauber. Obviously we are ahead of Virgin and HRT. This at the moment is the picture that we have,” he said.
Meanwhile, TL has announced Italian Davide Valsecchi, Brazilian Luiz Razia and Ricardo Teixeira as their test and reserve drivers this season. The former two drive for Team AirAsia in GP2, while Angolan Teixeira drove in Formula 2 last season.
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Good Luck Team Lotus!! Make Malaysia Proud!!!!
Good to see TL is faster than Virgin and HRT.. So when is Sir Richard Branson going to wear the Air Asia Stewardess uniform???
God Speed Team Lotus, Lotus-Renault GP and Mercedes GP Petronas.
Do us proud.
All the best to team Lotus-Air Asia-Naza-1 Malaysia! 40-50 points this year?? Try 4-5.
If you’re going to aim on something, aim big. There is no point wishing for something small. Red Bull aimed to be world champion again this year. They don’t go aiming to be no. 2. At least they will strive to achieve that. You should aim higher to, my friend.
aim big realistic la…..even more establish team need time to be competitive like wat redbull does before..back marker to mid team to top 4 to champion…as for driver dead last and slowest to champion like alonso
This is the year to perform. No more excuses.
First!!!
Go proton Go!!!!!!!!!!!!
Savvy R3 pwned all!!!
good luck. Hope the result justifies all the hype
Their car last year was so shitty, so crude due to lack of time because their entry was confirmed so late that anything they built for this year is bound to be quicker.
How they finished 10th with such a crude car last year is nothing short of a miracle