Lotus technical director Nick Chester says the team will have “a reasonable upgrade” at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Lotus failed to score a point in the opening two races despite a switch to the Mercedes power unit seeing it more competitive than last season. As part of its development program, Chester says the team will be bringing upgrades to the car next weekend as it seeks to add downforce to help get its first top ten finish of the season under its belt at Shanghai.
“We have bodywork upgrades at the front and rear of the car,” Chester said. “In combination, we have a reasonable upgrade package for Shanghai which mainly focusses on improving our downforce.”
With Lotus cars tending to be easy on their tyres, Chester also admits the expected low temperatures in China has given the team another area to focus on in search of performance.
“The range of ambient temperatures can vary significantly in Shanghai from around 10 to 30 degrees Celsius so that’s quite significant. We can’t know for sure in advance what the weather will be like but yes it will certainly be cooler than the last race! We will put emphasis towards generating the right tyre temperatures. And we’ll certainly pack our fleeces.”
Click here for a more lighthearted look at some of the scenes from the Malaysian Grand Prix
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