Lotus believes it is the fourth strongest team on the grid
After a few false starts in the first two Grand Prix races, the Lotus team scored its first points in China with Romain Grosjean's 7th place finish. This effort prompts Alan Permane, the technical director, to say that Lotus can secure fourth place in the Constructors' Championship by the end of the year.
After a disastrous 2014 season and a frustrating start to the 2015 campaign, Lotus, through Romain Grosjean, scored its first championship points in China thanks to the French driver’s 7th place finish.
The technical director of the team based in Enstone now believes that Lotus represents the fourth force on the grid, behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and Williams: « It seems that in the race, we have the fourth-fastest car. If we continue to score points as we did in China, we can aim for fourth place in the championship, which would make everyone in the team happy. » he explains to Autosport.
The misadventures of Pastor Maldonado during the race in China last Sunday cost the team a few valuable points. But it is only a temporary setback according to Permane: « Without Pastor’s exit in the pit lane, we could have comfortably finished in 7th and 8th place. But beating Ricciardo and the two Red Bulls in qualifying was really something fun. I think our race pace was superior to theirs and slightly better than the Toro Rosso and Sauber, enough, in any case, to allow us to have a fairly comfortable race. »
