Merc engine upgrade boost for Lotus

Editor

Lotus have set their sights on being the fourth fastest team in Canada following an engine upgrade from Mercedes.

The move from Renault to Merc engines has been a good one for the Enstone squad so far as they have nearly doubled the amount of points they picked up last year in the first six races of the 2015 campaign.

Although their E23 chassis has been major upgrade, the reliability and power from the Merc engines have played an important role in their turnaround in fortunes.

And, according to Lotus CEO Matthew Carter, the team could receive an even bigger boost as their power supplier could well have used some of the tokens they have left.

The Silver Arrows used 25 during the off-season and have seven remaining for the rest of the campaign.

"Mercedes are bringing an upgrade to the engine as well so we have that to look forward to," he told Sky Sport's The F1 Show.

"It is a new engine and an upgrade as well. I think they may have [used tokens], we defintily have an upgraded engine."

Lotus, though, did leave Monaco empty handed with Romain Grosjean finishing P12 and Pastor Maldonado retiring with a brake-to-wire problem.

However, they are hoping to challenge the likes of Force India and McLaren this coming weekend. 

Carter added: "It should be a good race for us.

"We believe on this circuit we should have the fourth quickest car, we can’t touch Mercedes, Ferrari or Williams, but we can hope to be the fourth quickest there.

"We have a lot of upgrades on the car in terms of brake cooling, but I am sure all the teams are doing the same things. Fingers crossed it should be good."