• Barcelona Testing

Lotus won't trouble established teams - Trulli

Jarno Trulli: We are not happy with the pace that we have at the moment © Sutton Images

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• Article:
• Lotus car worse than 2003 Minardi - Kovalainen
  

• Drivers:
• Jarno Trulli

• Teams:
• Team Lotus

Jarno Trulli is not expecting Lotus to challenge the established teams at the first few races and thinks the gap in times shown in testing is representative of where his team is.

The Lotus T127 has consistently been four to five seconds off the front runners in Spain this month. For a brand new outfit it has shown impressive reliability but Trulli admits it has been at the cost of performance.

"We are not happy with the pace that we have at the moment, but we knew we wouldn't be," he said. "We are ready for racing, but not really for fighting. Maybe we can fight with Virgin, but the rest of the field is still out of reach."

In recent years the F1 grid has been very competitive, with little over two seconds separating pole from last at many grand prix. But Trulli said Lotus will be well off the pace in the first few races and that top ten finishes are very unlikely until the first major update to the car at the Spanish Grand Prix.

"It would be nice to score a point, but it is not going to be easy," he said. "We have to be realistic. We are probably four seconds off. We already know what is wrong, but we don't have enough time to sort it out right away. We knew in advance where the weaknesses were, but we have to get ready for Bahrain and ship everything over, so there is no time left. Once we return to Europe, we will probably make a step forward."

When asked what can be expected from the first qualifying session in Bahrain, Trulli said: "The same as here [Barcelona testing] basically, not much more. Unfortunately I am not a magician."

Heikki Kovalainen took over testing duties in the T127 on Sunday.

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