Lotus boss Tony Fernandes is expecting Jarno Trulli to be back on the pace when he returns to the cockpit at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Trulli handed over his race seat to Karun Chandhok at the German Grand Prix last weekend but will be back at the wheel of the T128 at the Hungaroring.
So far this season he has struggled for pace compared to team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, which he believes is due to a lack of feel in the car's power steering. In Hungary the team will use a new power steering rack for the first time and Fernandes is confident it will bring the best out of Trulli.
"Jarno will be back for that race and it will be his first chance to try the new power steering system we have developed and tested over the last couple of months," Fernandes said. "We are not expecting miracles from that - it is obviously a small part but, for Jarno, pretty vital as the aim is to give him the feel he needs from the car to extract every ounce of performance he can. It will be good to see him back in the pack and I am sure he will be pushing harder than ever alongside Heikki on a track that rewards the best drivers out there."
Trulli said he is looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend and is expecting the hot temperatures and twisty layout of the Hungaroring to suit Lotus.
"This year it's more difficult than any other season to predict how competitive we are going to be at any of the circuits we race at, mainly because there are so many new factors to take into account that comparisons with previous seasons are largely redundant," he said. "However, I think we can expect to be OK because we were competitive in Monaco, a circuit that's pretty similar to Hungary - relatively low speed with a need for good traction to push out of the slower corners and not so much reliance on aero performance."
Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne said the team would try to put pressure on the midfield teams in qualifying.
"With that in mind we may see the differences between the front of the grid and the back decrease slightly, and that could play into our hands," he said. "We showed at Silverstone that we can put our cars into Q2 using the right strategy and that may be the same in Hungary.
"We are definitely influencing the plans of the teams ahead as they cannot risk being behind us in Q1 using only the prime tyres, so hopefully we can do that again in Hungary and keep fighting the midfield pack on Saturday, and pushing on in the race on Sunday when our race pace comes into its own."
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