bigbadbrother
06-16-2014, 03:05 AM
Luke Smith
After a disappointing showing in the last two races, Federico Gastaldi is confident that Lotus will bounce back in Austria at the Red Bull Ring next weekend.
The team principal was left cursing his bad luck after both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were forced to retire from last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, with both sniffing at the points. In Monaco, Grosjean did finish in eighth place, but the team could have fared far better had it not been for an early incident.
“We have potential which is still to be fulfilled,” Gastaldi said. “Canada was a kick where it hurts for everyone at the team but we took stock, identified the issues and have taken action to avoid any repeats.
“The last thing you want is both cars sat in the garage at the end of a race, but that’s what we had. Thankfully it is very rare for us.”
In fact, it was Maldonado’s third retirement in seven races, and the Venezuelan remains rooted to the bottom of the drivers’ standings.
Nevertheless, Gastaldi believes that the fast-flowing nature of the Red Bull Ring – which hosts F1 for the first time since 2003 next weekend – should suit the E22 car.
“Monaco and Montréal were both races which didn’t play to our strengths and additionally we had reliability problems at both of them,” he explained. “Austria looks to be more positive in terms of its potential for us, as well as the next few races too. We’re making improvements all the time so we can tackle all the aspects which cause us a challenge.”
Lotus may be a long way off its 2013 form, but with eight points in the board, it has in fact exceeded many early expectations after a disastrous pre-season testing period. Now, the focus will be on gradually cutting the gap to the top ten and picking up a few more points to move ahead of Toro Rosso in the constructors’.
After a disappointing showing in the last two races, Federico Gastaldi is confident that Lotus will bounce back in Austria at the Red Bull Ring next weekend.
The team principal was left cursing his bad luck after both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were forced to retire from last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, with both sniffing at the points. In Monaco, Grosjean did finish in eighth place, but the team could have fared far better had it not been for an early incident.
“We have potential which is still to be fulfilled,” Gastaldi said. “Canada was a kick where it hurts for everyone at the team but we took stock, identified the issues and have taken action to avoid any repeats.
“The last thing you want is both cars sat in the garage at the end of a race, but that’s what we had. Thankfully it is very rare for us.”
In fact, it was Maldonado’s third retirement in seven races, and the Venezuelan remains rooted to the bottom of the drivers’ standings.
Nevertheless, Gastaldi believes that the fast-flowing nature of the Red Bull Ring – which hosts F1 for the first time since 2003 next weekend – should suit the E22 car.
“Monaco and Montréal were both races which didn’t play to our strengths and additionally we had reliability problems at both of them,” he explained. “Austria looks to be more positive in terms of its potential for us, as well as the next few races too. We’re making improvements all the time so we can tackle all the aspects which cause us a challenge.”
Lotus may be a long way off its 2013 form, but with eight points in the board, it has in fact exceeded many early expectations after a disastrous pre-season testing period. Now, the focus will be on gradually cutting the gap to the top ten and picking up a few more points to move ahead of Toro Rosso in the constructors’.