Renault look to 'polish' Kubica
Team boss Eric Boullier says his Lotus-Renault outfit will head into the new Formula One season full of optimism.
The Enstone-based team have had a difficult couple of years, but their fortunes turned around last year when Robert Kubica helped them to fifth place in the Constructors' Championship with three podiums. Off the track it's also going much better following Group Lotus' decision to buy a stake in the team.
Boullier admits he can't help but feel upbeat ahead of the 2011 campaign, not only because off-track matters, but also because of his driver line-up.
"We have a real diamond [in Robert Kubica], but as a diamond, he only shines if you polish him, and we need to keep polishing him," he told Crash.net. "[With Petrov] I took some time because I needed to make sure that he understood why I was putting pressure on him in 2010, and clearly I needed to understand the commitment he was ready to give.
"He showed strong commitment and he convinced me that he's the guy to be on-board. If he can race like he did in Abu Dhabi or Budapest where he did a superb job without mistakes, if he can stay concentrated like that, he will have a very good season.
"2010 was a big turnaround, and a lot of people at Enstone can be proud of that. We now have Group Lotus as a title sponsor, but as well as bringing money obviously, they bring a lot of hope and reassurance to our company, because it's a long-term commitment from them.
"On top of that, you also have the history and the prestige of the name and last but not least, it's like a reward for the team. A year ago, we were just out of, let's say, a troubled period; all the hard work that was done during 2010 has paid off, and the reward is to have this long-term commitment from Lotus Cars."
Renault haven't won a grand prix since Fernando Alonso won the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, but Boullier sees no reason why they can't be challenging for a victory this year.
"Obviously we don't know what the other teams have been doing or what their level of performance is yet; the only comparison I have is between the R30 and the R31 on paper, and from what I know from that, we will be much stronger and much stronger from the beginning of the season," he said.
"We have all learned to work well together now, the drivers know the team and the team knows the drivers, so from race one, we will be ready to fight. If we are able to be a dark horse, then I clearly want to be a regular dark horse up at the front. If our level of performance is good enough, we can expect to be a regular podium-finisher - and if we are a regular podium-finisher, we can expect to win."
Credit: PlanetF1.com (www.planetf1.com)
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