Gastaldi: Lotus should build on the work in Australia

How important a race is the Malaysian Grand Prix?

It’s amazing to think we’ll be racing in Sepang for the seventeenth time this year! Malaysia’s an interesting commercial market for us as a team and the event usually delivers a great race. Sepang’s a superb facility and there’s normally a really strong turn out too. The track layout really challenges the drivers and engineers and this combined with the challenges the weather can present makes for an event we all enjoy.

What do you expect to see from the team in Kuala Lumpur?

We should build on the work in Australia. Yes, our race was very short there, however we’ve demonstrated the first step of our 2015 fightback by qualifying in the top ten with good race pace potential. There’s nothing to say Sepang should not suit us, so we’re ready to deliver.

What did the team learn in Australia?

We learnt that the E23 looks to be a good car relative to its opposition, albeit a car that still has strong development potential to get better. Pastor and Romain were both very happy over the weekend in Australia. Even after both drivers retired from the race for different reasons, they both still had glints in their eyes despite their race frustrations. The reason for the underlying positivity at the team is we know we’re capable of delivering good strong results this year.

Did the Formula 1 spectacle deliver in Australia?

On many levels the event delivered spectacularly. The crowds were fantastic, the organisation was exemplary and it’s a pleasure to start the season in Melbourne. The official ticket sales information say that there were 101,500 spectators on Sunday which is a very impressive rise compared to last year’s sales. Formula 1 is back on track! We must all say thanks a Million Ron Walker for a magnificent job done from you and your fantastic team through 20 great races. Formula 1 will miss your exemplary personality and entrepreneurship enthusiasm! In terms of this year’s track action, we can’t say that it was a classic race, and not only because our cars weren’t involved in most of it! That said, you never know what might happen in the first race of the season. There were some good battles down the field and some very good debuts from new drivers. It’s clear all of us have some work to do to take the battle to Mercedes, but that’s what we’re all working hard for.

What do you want to see in Sepang?

Points. That’s what we’re here for. We want to see progress from the start we made at Albert Park and it would be fantastic to have both cars greet the chequered flag with a good clutch of points stashed away. Of course, this is what every team is trying to do, but we’re battling hard at Enstone to make this happen.

What are your thoughts on what looks like the loss of the German Grand Prix?

It’s not looking promising for this year but I’m sure we’ll be back in 2016. It’s of course a shame for everyone, especially all the German fans who wanted to come see Formula 1, but these things happen sometimes in the commercial world. For the team we know we have nineteen races. Twenty races makes for a long season so we still have a pretty full season even if one race is dropped.

What’s the route map for the team in the initial part of the 2015 season?

Re-establishing ourselves as a force to be reckoned with on track is certainly the primary aim as we did suffer in that regard last season. Through doing this we can offer the best return to our partners as well as show further appeal for new partners. We’re having a number of discussions in this area so there’s strong potential to grow the team before the year is out.