Lotus technical director Nick Chester says the team are hopeful that a raft of upgrades to the E22 will significantly boost performance at Hockenheim next weekend.
The Enstone-based team have narrowly missed out on cracking the top ten across the last three Grands Prix, meaning Romain Grosjean's eighth-place finishes in Barcelona and Monaco remain the only occasions when they have scored points so far this season.
Chester however says a number of upgrades, coupled with what they were able to learn during the two-day Silverstone test, could lift Lotus in Germany.
"Our development schedule is continuing at full pace," Chester explained. "We will have a new front wing, which is a decent improvement, a cooling upgrade and some smaller bodywork updates to increase downforce.
"Between what we have learnt in the Silverstone test and these upgrades, we hope to make a good step forward."
Asked whether Hockenheim will suit the E22, Chester added: "It's quite a mixed track with a couple of long straights and a medium-speed final section. Two of the straights are also linked by a medium to high-speed corner, which is good for us, as is having soft and supersoft tyres for this circuit."
Grosjean meanwhile said next weekend's race will be an examination of just how far Lotus have improved since the start of the season.
"We've worked hard to improve performance in the low-speed corners, so Hockenheim will be a good test of how much we've progressed," he said.
"Apart from the run down to the hairpin there are no real straights to speak about so power unit emphasis will be on acceleration rather than top speed.
"The weather played a part in the Silverstone weekend, just as it did at Hockenheim in 2012, so we'll need to stay on our toes. I think as a team we have more to gain than lose from any weather changes so we should view them as an opportunity - the E22 seemed to like the damp conditions at Silverstone."
The Frenchman, who has only once started from higher than tenth in 2014, said that Lotus must also address their performances on Saturday, adding: "We can't afford to give our rivals a head-start. A top ten grid place will be the first target for Hockenheim."
(source: f1.com)
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