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Lotus ready to focus on performance

Alan Permane says there are some minor reliability updates which have been added to the E21 © Sutton Images

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Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane says the team will focus on performance and understanding tyres during the second test this week at Barcelona.

Following a first test at Jerez that took place on an aggressive track surface, Barcelona is the first opportunity for the teams to run on a circuit which will be used for a race this season. Permane said that the team would therefore look to carry out race simulations to understand the tyres better and would also be adding performance to the E21.

"In Barcelona we hope to pack in a number of long runs to get a much more detailed understanding of the tyres at a race circuit used during the season," Permane said. "We also aim to complete some full race distance simulations complete with pit stops, tyre changes and the car in action for a full complement of race laps; even down to formation laps and a simulated race start. We'll do more performance work with the car, and the race distance simulations will put everything through some good reliability testing."

Permane also said that Lotus would have a number of updated parts that had been modified as a result of initial findings at the first test.

"[Reliability and performance] go hand in hand to an extent. The first Barcelona test is largely concerned with improving the car from the initial lessons learnt in Jerez, so we've worked on anything which didn't quite operate as expected or any components which need beefing up. This means there are minor updates to make the car more robust and raceworthy, which can be done in conjunction with performance work. Many of the updated parts are not necessarily performance parts, but more concerned with reliability, so a performance assessment can be conducted in parallel."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.