- Lotus
Lotus needs to regain lost momentum - Gastaldi
Federico Gastaldi believes Lotus needs a strong result at Silverstone after seeing all the positives from the Spanish Grand Prix and the subsequent Barcelona test undone in the last few races.
Since missing the opening pre-season test in Jerez Lotus has been way off its 2013 pace, not registering its first points until the Spanish Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean then repeated that eighth-place finish in Monaco but Lotus failed to return to the points in either Canada or Austria, though deputy team principal Gastaldi believes the team has plenty it can take from either weekend.
"I would not say that we came away with too much satisfaction because we were not rewarded with points but for Pastor the maximum was extracted from his race in Austria, so positives could be taken," Gastaldi said. "This gives us a good platform to achieve our aims and objectives for Silverstone, which is to add to our points tally. But first we have to match the slower-speed corner performance of the E22 to the high speed performance.
"The momentum we got from the Spanish Grand Prix and the test afterwards was forgotten slightly after the tough three races since then. But we know that at a track like Silverstone we should be able to see similar performance and exploit the capabilities of the E22 and the powertrain package with the help of Renault Sport F1."
Gastaldi says Grosjean's performance in Austria, where he started from the pits and battled back to 14th, sums up the team's determination to return to the front of the pack in 2014.
"The team fought back with typical spirit from a really tough time in Montreal which says a lot about the team and the spirit we have. Romain showed the fighting spirit which he is famous for and which the team really appreciate ... Romain remains upbeat and he knows that although it is taking longer than anyone expected, he can exploit the potential that exists in the E22. He is as hungry as ever."
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