Obviously, after spending his entire racing career driving for solid teams and becoming well-known for his incredible qualifying pace, coming to a small, rookie team was no easy pick for Trulli. And, although he expected some struggling time in the early stages of the season, what he has experienced with Lotus after 4 rounds is far less than what he would have imagined.
“Obviously I knew that it wouldn't be easy, that everything would be new and we would need time. However, I had expected at least to drive. Instead, after four races I did not start once and when I got to the finish, it was because it was decided I should take the chequered flag but in far from ideal conditions,” said Trulli in a recent interview with Italian magazine Sprint.
“Bad luck seems to persevere on my car, everything happens on my car and my car only. So, to this day, my expectations have not been met. It's still early days to judge, we need more time for a reliable judgement. I knew it would be tough, but I practically haven't driven yet. I'll pass judgement at the end of the year,” added the Italian.
While admitting that his new goal is to beat his teammate in both qualifying and race classifications, Trulli insisted that he is at least happy his team has proved to be the best from the newly-entrants. With the new updates in Barcelona, the team hopes to gain a full second per lap with the T127, but Trulli still believes Lotus is using only 10 percent of their potential in 2010.
“The package with Cosworth engine and X-Track gearbox has little influence over the lack of performance, I think no more than 10%, so the problems are elsewhere. The thing Lotus has lacked is time, the main culprit for our difficulties.”
“Had we had time to program everything more in advance, we would have better prepared the structure, the car, the gearbox, our hydraulics system and everything you need to start well. All this work is being done now, race after race,” concluded Trulli.
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