Lotus boss: 2010 is our building year
Date published : 12 Feb 2010 - 20:54:16
Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes believes the team's debut season will be all about laying the building blocks for what he hopes will be its steady progress towards the front of Formula 1 over the next three to four years.
The AirAsia boss helped unveil the first car for the legendary Lotus name's return to F1 at a ceremony in London on Friday evening exactly five months on from when the Malaysian-backed outfit had its 2010 entry on the grid confirmed by the FIA.
Fernandes is under no illusions about the challenges the team will face in its first season and is therefore setting relatively modest targets namely to prove organisationally strong and have both the reliability and speed to at least clearly establish itself as the best of the grid's four new entrants.
First of all, we will be a professional team in the way we look and we will turn up to the grands prix as a proper Formula 1 team, he said in a press conference following the launch.
I hope this year will be the start of the building blocks. It's important to build a strong foundation, and we are under no illusions that we're going to be up there beating Ferrari or McLaren.
My first objective is for us to have a car that is reliable. If we can finish every race, I think that will be a phenomenal start.
Then, from that reliability, [we aim to] be the best new team and maybe challenge some of the established teams. That would be a great target.
Although the final incarnation of the original Team Lotus folded amid financial difficulties at end of 1994 following a long decline, the historic marque had earlier enjoyed huge success in the sport, winning multiple world titles under founder Colin Chapman in the 1960s and 1970s.
Fernandes is confident his new-look operation can eventually re-establish the Lotus name as an F1 front-runner and thinks it has already demonstrated its intentions by signing drivers with proven F1 credentials Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen and putting together a design team led by Mike Gascoyne.
We're not here to come last every year, he said.
As a Lotus fan, I'll admit that we are not going to be challenging at the front this year.
But I think that we have the ability to do so within three or four years.
Whether we do that is in our hands, but we're certainly here to be a serious team, and I think we've shown our seriousness by signing two great drivers, putting together a strong technical team and developing a very good package.
Lotus remains the fourth most successful team in F1 history behind Ferrari, McLaren and Williams, with seven constructors' titles and 73 race victories.
