GreenBkk.com Formula 1 | T128 is 'close to the midfield' - Trulli

T128 is 'close to the midfield' - Trulli

Jarno Trulli is confident the T128 can challenge the midfield © Sutton Images

Jarno Trulli is confident the new Lotus T128 will trouble Formula One's midfield this season, after completing its fourth day of pre-season testing at Jerez.

With an all-new car, Lotus is targeting points this season after failing to score during its debut year in Formula One. However, it has not had a smooth start to its testing schedule, after power steering issues limited running at Valencia and further problems restricted the car's track time on Thursday afternoon.

Nevertheless, Trulli is confident the T128 has a decent amount of raw pace.

"The car does feel pretty good, but the problem this afternoon limited our total time on track," he said. "Despite that we are still where we want to be - close to the midfield and in a car that we still have a lot more to add to. I think there is still a lot more to come from the car so I'm very positive and looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow."

Dieter Gass, the team's sporting director, said the mechanics will have the problem sorted by the start of running on Friday.

"We started the day well and had a good morning session. For the first time we were able to do meaningful setup work and start being able to understand the aerodynamics of the car. Unfortunately we had a small problem this afternoon which limited our running, but the team worked well to rectify it and we managed to give Jarno another 45 minutes at the end of the session. We will take another look at the problem tonight and will make sure it does not affect us tomorrow."

Times

Driver Car Time Laps

1. Felipe Massa Ferrari F150 1:20.709 101

2. Sergio Perez Sauber C30 1:21.483 94

3. Mark Webber Red Bull RB7 1:21.522 94

4. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso STR6 1:21.755 31

5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren MP4-26 1:21.914 58

6. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso STR6 1:22.689 42

7. Adrian Sutil Force India VJM-04 1:23.472 28

8. Vitaly Petrov Renault R31 1:23.504 57

9. Nico Rosberg Mercedes W02 1:23.963 67

10. Jarno Trulli Lotus T128 1:24.458 54

11. Timo Glock Virgin MVR-02 1:25.086 42

12. Pastor Maldonado Williams FW33 1:34.968 13

Credit: ESPN F1 (espn.com)