Mike Gascoyne has said that Team Lotus must keep Williams in their sights after a strong performance in the Chinese Grand Prix.
Technical boss wants to keep former champions in his sights
Mike Gascoyne has said that Team Lotus must keep Williams in their sights after a strong performance at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli finished 16th and 19th respectively in Shanghai, with the Finn taking the chequered flag ahead of Williams driver Pastor Maldonado.
The result represents a step forward for Team Lotus, who only joined Formula One last season and yet are already seeking to challenge established outfits.
Few are more established than Williams, and although Gascoyne expressed a tinge of regret that the nine-times constructors' champions are currently stuck in the mire, he said that Team Lotus needed to set such targets if they are to progress.
"It's the most significant 16th place I've ever achieved," Gascoyne, Team Lotus's chief technical officer, told the
BBC.
Great name
"We were genuinely racing. It's not that we've inherited something, we've raced and beaten the established teams on pace, and that's a really big step for the team."
Asked which teams they were now targeting, Gascoyne replied: "Unfortunately, it's probably Williams.
"I say unfortunately because it's a great team and a great name, and you'd like to see them nearer the front.
"So maybe I'm a bit of an old git and there's a bit of nostalgia there, but we're Team Lotus now and if we're racing Williams then that's good for us."
Gascoyne said he felt "exhausted" after Sunday's race, which featured plenty of action and intrigue as different race strategies chosen by the teams panned out.
Much of the excitement has been created by F1's new Pirelli tyres, with Gascoyne giving his seal of approval.
"Normally you just go away and that's that, but I will sit down and watch the race again because what a race for Formula One," he said.
"Tribute to Pirelli with what they've done. They've taken a risk with these tyres, believing that tyre degradation would make for good racing, and Sunday's race proved it."
Gascoyne did say, however, that Team Lotus are still struggling to get the tyres working properly with their car, particularly during qualifying.
Confident
"We're clearly struggling for one-lap pace when we have cool days and low track temperatures," he added.
"But we've always said from winter testing that our race pace is really good and we're very confident in it.
"It's just trying to understand these tyres because people clearly can get better one-lap pace.
"In the race we were racing Maldonado, and we felt we had him from the first few laps, yet we qualified two seconds behind him.
"So these tyres are really difficult to get on top."
