Lotus sets sights on overhauling Red Bull

After seeing several point-scoring opportunities slip through its fingers in the early stages of the campaign, Lotus finally managed to get both its cars in the top ten in Canada last weekend.

And ahead of a run of tracks that should suit its Mercedes-powered package, the team is focusing on closing down the 21-point gap to former champion Red Bull.

Deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi said: "We're pushing hard and it's Red Bull who are immediately ahead of us.

"They've had a stronger start to their season in terms of points scoring than us, but I feel that we've got our early season glitches and bugs out of the way; we should come on strong from here on."

Money not defining factor

Although Lotus is operating to a strict budget, Gastaldi does not feel that rival Red Bull's extra spending power means it will automatically stay clear.

"It's true that most of our rivals ahead of us do have greater resources, but part of the Enstone spirit is being the underdog and prevailing against bigger enemies," he said.

"We know that Red Bull are ahead of us in the points and will be throwing all their resources at developing their car.

"We also know we'll be doing everything we can to catch and beat them."

Car improvements

Technical director Nick Chester believes that a combination of tracks coming up, and improvement made to the team's car, bode well for its prospects of beating Red Bull.

"Certainly we want to maintain this position and target any improvement we can get," he said.

"There's a reasonable gap ahead to fourth, but certainly there's a feeling that we have come on a long way in terms of reliability and understanding of our car after what was a big change for us in terms of power unit supplier for this season.

"We know that Red Bull in fourth position have tremendous resources at their disposal, but we'll be doing everything we can to catch them."