While many believed Team Lotus will settle for catching up Scuderia Toro Rosso and advance only one position inside the manufacturers' Top 10 this upcoming season, the former Force India and Toyota official aims much higher than that. And instead of us reporting it, we'll let you hear it from the man himself.
“We've said very clearly that we want to start challenging the established teams, and I think that's very achievable,” said Gascoyne in an interview with Team Lotus Notes. “But that line has to continue going up, so we'll have to target being up there with Toro Rosso, Sauber and Force India, and then end the season by targeting Williams and Renault.”
The new Lotus T128 will take power from a Renault V8 in 2011, instead of the former Cosworth unit, and will use a new Red Bull-developed gearbox. In addition to those improvements however, Gascoyne insisted that other areas of Team Lotus' development programme have been bettered.
“We've got resources coming on stream now, like new CFD resources and a new wind tunnel programme in the UK, that we've never had. What we can do now will get better,” he added, suggesting that Team Lotus might even embarrass some of F1's older teams in 2011.
“The problem for these other teams is that if we've been going for a year and then we start beating them, it's a very clear message and it sends out a story which is embarrassing for them and good for us. It would be great for Formula 1 if this car can take us into the midfield, because it shows what's achievable for a properly run small team.”
As far as his points prediction for 2011 goes, Gascoyne did not avoid giving a clear answer, suggesting that he's looking at the possibility of scoring “between 40 and 50 points this year.”
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