Carter: The E23 Hybrid represents a new era for Lotus

Lotus F1 Team’s CEO, Matthew Carter, looks at the challenges for the season ahead.

How would you describe the 2015 specification Lotus F1 Team?

Lean and hungry to return to the kind of successes we’ve enjoyed in the past. We’ll get last year out of the way quickly; for a variety of reasons we didn’t deliver a performance near where we wanted to be and this has made us very hungry to deliver in 2015. We’ve addressed the issues we faced and with the benefit of the knowledge gained last year we know we are in a far better position in every regard.

What does the E23 Hybrid represent for the team?

The E23 Hybrid represents a new era for Lotus F1 Team, not only in the change to a Mercedes Benz Power Unit, but also it is the fruition of a busy winter behind the scenes. Improvements within our design, aero and simulation departments have all contributed to the development of a car which is a huge step forward. As a team we are confident that the new car coupled with additions to the race team will enable a huge leap forward and we are full of optimism going into the new season. It is time to put the disappointment of last season behind us and benefit from 12 months of hard work; we are ready to return to our rightful place at the pinnacle of the sport.

What are the main challenges facing the team for the season ahead?

On track we need to drag ourselves back up the performance ladder relative to our opposition, who are all working very hard to improve their performance too. We’re confident that we’ve made the correct decisions to enable us to be racing much closer to the front of the grid right from the start of the season and we have a good programme to ensure we can continue to deliver strongly throughout the year. We continue to evolve behind the scenes at Enstone to enable us to operate as efficiently as possible. We know we offer our sponsors a fantastic return for their faith in us and we expect to be rewarding them very well indeed with a much improved on track performance this season.

How big a change is it operationally working with a new Power Unit partner like Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains?

It’s a significant change and one we believe brings many benefits. There is a tremendous amount of talent at Enstone, so seeing the struggles we faced in 2014 was very difficult to take. It was clear we needed to make a fundamental change and everything points to this having been the correct plan of action. We’re very excited at all the benefits of our new partnership with Mercedes and we are working closer and closer with them as the relationship develops. There is tremendous potential.

After a difficult season like 2014, how do you maintain the DNA and appeal of the team?

The DNA of Enstone runs deep and the team has always had the ability to bounce back from a difficult season. We’ve seen that before and I’m confident that we will see it again in 2015. No-one liked the lack of results we achieved last year so rest assured, everything has been done to address this and perform far better over the season ahead.

What is possible from the year ahead?

Certainly far better race results than we saw last year! We expect to be back to regularly points scoring and we’re fighting to get back to being on the podium. We’re particularly focused and determined to achieve this aim and we have put all the pieces in place to enable this to happen. We have a great driver line-up with Romain, Pastor and now Jolyon joining us as Third Driver so everything is in place for us to deliver.