Lotus have set realistic targets after unveiling the car that will bring the famous brand back to Formula 1 for the first time in 16 years.
Team boss Tony Fernandes hopes the new outfit can finish every race of what is effectively their debut season.
He said their achievement in having a finished car within five months of getting an entry was “a fairy story”.
The car will carry Lotus’s historical F1 colours of gold and green, made famous by Jim Clark and Graham Hill.
Lotus, who became famous for winning a series of six drivers’ titles and seven constructors’ championships through the 1960s and ‘70s, last raced in F1 in 1994, when the team collapsed with financial problems.
The team is being presented as a revival of a historic name - it will be granted prize money on the basis of Lotus’s historical record, and technical director Mike Gascoyne said that their first win would be counted as Lotus’s 80th in F1, not the new team’s first.
But all the leading figures in the team made it clear that their targets for their debut season were rather more humble.
“I’d just love to finish every race,” Fernandes said. “If we can beat some of the [other] new teams, that would be a fantastic start. If we can beat some of the established teams that would be great. BBC Sport
Trulli and Kovalainen were joined by team principal Tony Fernandes, chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne and test driver Fairuz Fauzy. Fernandes expressed his delight at launching the car just five months after the team was granted its entry to the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.
“I am extremely proud to be here today and to be able to show the world the fruits of the team’s hard work over the last five months,” he said. “It’s humbling for me and my fellow shareholders, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin to see how a team that five months ago didn’t even exist is now a thriving workforce, full of enthusiasm and passion for Lotus Racing and the challenges ahead and capable of producing such a beautiful machine in such a short time.
“Now we’ve achieved two major milestones; confirming our entry and unveiling our car, but now the real work starts. Next we move on to testing and the season ahead and I’m confident that the team will exceed expectations wherever we go, and will do so on a wave of support around the world that has been growing daily since we first unleashed Lotus Racing back in September ’09.” Formula 1
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