Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsLotus F1

Lotus has the tools to win - Maldonado

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Pastor Maldonado says Lotus has “all the tools” to become winners again after a disappointing 2014 season.

Kimi Raikkonen took victories in each of the 2012 and 2013 seasons for Lotus, challenging for the championship during his first year with the team. However, Maldonado replaced Raikkonen last year and struggled as an uncompetitive car delivered just 10 points. Acknowledging that he wants to return Lotus to its former competitiveness, Maldonado says the pieces are in place for future success.

“My target is to get the team back to where the team was before I came here,” Maldonado said. “We have all the tools. We have everything in the right place to be competitive again and to win. This is the main target again: to win.”

With Mercedes joining as power unit supplier, Maldonado says he expects the 2015 car to allow Lotus to be stronger on every track throughout the year.

“What we expect from the E23 is a much more competitive car than last year. Very solid in terms of drivability, very solid in terms of speed and performance and very consistent through the season.”

Click here for the full gallery of the new Lotus E23

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.