Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes says that he wants the team to replicate Red Bull's history.
Red Bull took over the Jaguar racing team ahead of the 2005, with Jaguar's previous season having seen them finish seventh in the constructor's championship just ahead of Toyota, Jordan and Minardi. It took Red Bull four years to win races and five years to secure both the drivers' and constructors' titles. Fernandes told CNN International that although Red Bull had the bonus of taking over an existing factory it still gave him hope that Lotus can make similar progress.
"We'd 100 per cent like to replicate [what Red Bull has done]," Fernandes said. "The great thing, five years ago, Red Bull was in the position that we were in. In fact, they were a little bit of a head start because they bought an existing factory from Stewart (the team Jaguar took over), so they had quite a big head start, but they were at the back and, five years later, they're world champions.
"We're very encouraged by it. You know, in 18 months, we've built a factory from nothing. We put the car out in Bahrain after only eight months. And qualifying for us [in Canada] was a fantastic qualification. We're getting closer and closer to midfield. But Red Bull has raised a lot of excitement and there's a lot of hope for new teams such as us."
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