Lotus technical chief Mike Gascoyne believes his team will be able to prove it has made a step forward in form this year, despite a disappointing Australian Grand Prix.
Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli struggled to get their tires up to the right operating temperature in Melbourne, plus the team was not helped by power steering issues and water leaks. However, Gascoyne thinks that efforts being made back at the factory, plus the warmer conditions in Sepang, will result in a better performance for his team.
"If you look closely at the race lap times, we were 2.7sec of Sebastian Vettel, one second behind Force India and two seconds quicker than the Virgins. We said we would be better in the race than we were in qualifying – and so it was," Gascoyne told AUTOSPORT. "It is just a little mystifying as to why it took us so long to get on top of the tire issue. From that point of view, we didn't do a great job. But we have to go and make sure we do a good job in Malaysia now.
"I think being on the easier end of the scale will be better there. There were some issues with the steering feedback, which affected both drivers, especially Jarno, but we have got fixes on that and we only have one real reliability issue which is water leaks on the water system, which again caught us out. But we have more new parts coming, and then I think we can show we have made a step forward."