F1: Boullier Anticipating Further Step For Lotus

Formula 1

F1: Boullier Anticipating Further Step For Lotus

Lotus team boss Eric Boullier believes the team can improve on its strong 2012...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted January 28, 2013 Balen (BEL)

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier is optimistic about 2013. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier wants his team to take a further step up from last year, when it finished fourth in the World Championship and Kimi Raikkonen won a race.

“I think it is fair to say that great things are possible,” said Boullier. “The leap we made from 2011 to 2012 showed what we are capable of. Add to this the continuity and potential of our driver line-up, and we have a very powerful cocktail for the season ahead.

“Our ambitious plan to turn ourselves into one of the top teams in Formula One is coming to fruition and now we need to harness this with strong and regular podium results.

“We want to do better than we did last year. 2012 was a good season for us – certainly in the context of the previous season – but we, like every team in this highly competitive sport, want to win. We want to make regular appearances on the podium, and add to our tally of appearances on the top step.”

Boullier said that the team has all the ingredients for a successful campaign, some seven years after the last title success with Fernando Alonso and Renault ownership.

“We are lean and hungry," Boullier said. "Enstone knows how to win championships, but it is a while since we have won, so we are very eager to taste glory again. We have a fantastic facility at Enstone and one which has benefited from significant and strategic investment over the past couple of years.

“We have a highly accomplished technical and design team who last year produced a fantastic car, the E20. The E21 builds on this. We have a superb driver lineup with the 2007 champion, Kimi (Raikkonen), and a hungry young gun in Romain (Grosjean). We have further strength in our partners, and we are certainly primed and ready for action.

“It is certainly an interesting year. On the one hand, we have the season ahead and the very strong desire to achieve great things. On the other hand, we have significant technical changes around the corner in 2014, and an element of resource will naturally be focused on this area.

“On the track we want to achieve the very best results possible and this is true off track, too. In every element of our operations we want to be the best.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.