Just as Pastor Maldonado became Lotus F1’s only driver signed through 2016, his optimism has risen to new heights in the midst of a very complex Renault takeover.
Maldonado has argued recently that what his team is doing out on the track has been very impressive since their car is basically the same as it was at the beginning of the season. It’s hard to argue against that, considering the overall lack of development with the E23 Hybrid.
“We have a car from the beginning of season and we are still fighting for points so imagine if we had situation to develop the car?” argued the Colombian.
“If we had potential to develop our car in the right direction maybe we would be not winning races as Mercedes have everything they need be to be where they are but we would be much closer to Ferrari and Williams.”
When asked about his team’s chances of being second-quickest behind Mercedes, Maldonado stated that “Maybe not the second but fighting for the second for sure. Second or third behind Ferrari or close to Ferrari. It’s always difficult to predict where you will be but for sure it would be better than where we are. It’s a very good car.”
Despite being plagued by bad luck this year, the car does indeed look fast on most tracks, and if the team would have had the possibility of developing the E23 even further, a 3rd place finish in the constructors championship wouldn’t have been completely out of the question as they would have only had to battle Williams for the spot.
In a way, perhaps this is Pastor’s idea of welcoming Renault back as a factory team, as the French manufacturer will surely have all the resources needed in order to put together a highly competitive package.
Story references: Autosport
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