Lotus looking to make progress

(Francois Flamand - DPPI)

Lotus technical director Nick Chester is confident that following an extremely challenging opening race for the team last weekend in which neither car made it to the finish that the Enstone team can make progress however when asked how he felt Australia had gone for the team he said: 

'it was very frustrating. Everyone in the team worked really hard for Melbourne. In my fourteen years at Enstone I cannot remember a more intense period of work and for there to be no tangible reward for it is tough to take but we knew that this was likely to be the case. It was disappointing that we were not quicker and that we were unable to attain a truly representative position on the grid.

Chester went on to say that he feels that there is plenty of potential in the E22 however the team need to get the whole package working. He said that the team came away from Australia with a better understanding of the energy management systems. 

He also confirmed that the team will have some upgrades for the E22 for the next race in Malaysia this weekend. This year, the team at Enstone have gone for a striking double nose assembly, a design which a number of other teams are looking at adopting on their own cars. We will probably see different variations on the Lotus concept for the start of the European season at the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

The Enstone based team reshuffled their management structure prior to the start of the new season by appointing Frederico Gastaldi to the position of deputy team principal following the departure of Eric Boullier over the winter.

However, it has now emerged that due to his lack of Motorsport experience Gastaldi, who was at the Australian Grand Prix will work alongside acting team principal Gerard Lopez while Head of Trackside Operations Alan Permane will look after the day to day running of the team at Grand Prix with the help of technical director Nick Chester after it was revealed that attempts by the Lotus team to appoint Olivier Quensel to the role of team principal have failed.

©Ben Johnston 2014