(Glenn Dunbar for the Lotus F1 Team)
Lotus F1 Team chairman and team principal Gerard Lopez is confident that the Enstone outfit will be more competitive in 2015 after what has been their worst season in F1 recent years which has seen the team score just eight points so far this season and currently lie in eighth place in the Constructors championship.
Rewind the clock 12 months and the team were fighting for podium finishes and race win's and finished the season in fourth place in the Constructors championship. They also won the season opening Australian Grand Prix with Kimi Raikkonen.
The Finn moved to Ferrari for this season after an investment deal that was due to come into affect at the end of last season fell through for the team. Raikkonen also went public with the fact that e had not been paid his salary which the team were rightly so unhappy about as it was an internal matter ad that the Finn should not have spoken publicly.
Not only did the team lose Raikkonen but team principal Eric Boullier also left the team to take up the role of Racing Director at McLaren Mercedes.
Speaking to the official Formula One website Lopez stated that it is likely that Romain Grosjean will be retained next season as Pastor Maldonado already has a contract in place for next season Lopez also revealed that the upcoming financial results that will be released by the team will show that they have broken even for the year and that they are one of the healthiest outfit's from a financial point of view.
The team are also yet to officially confirm what they will do in relation to a power unit supply as it has been reported that the Enstone outfit are set to make the switch from Renault to a supply from Mercedes as the German manufacturer will move away from McLaren as the Woking based outfit will make the switch to a 'works' supply of Honda power units for the 2015 season.
Speaking following last weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza Lotus deputy team principal Frederico Gastaldi said that for now they are with Renault and they will announce in due course what the plan will be for 2015.
Meanwhile Lopez also confirmed that the team will have a permanent team boss in place ahead of the 2015 F1 season and hinted that there is 'a chance' that the new boss will be someone from within the F1 paddock.
© Ben Johnston 2014
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