Karun Chandhok says it is 'tricky' for Lotus to make the step in to the midfield this year as the team continues to establish itself in Formula One.
Lotus had high hopes of making it through in to the second qualifying session on regular occasions this season having been the class of the new teams in 2010. Having been close to achieving that aim earlier this season, Lotus appears to have lost some ground following the initial fly-away races, and third driver Chandhok says it's tough to match the development of more established teams as it tries to build solid foundations for the future.
"It's tricky," Chandhok told ESPNF1 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. "We made some progress at the start of the year; if you look at Shanghai for example and Barcelona, we were within half a second of the midfield and Q2 so we thought 'OK we look alright', and then they started chucking big updates at it and unfortunately I think we've slipped back in the last couple of races.
"But the guys are working flat out and it's difficult because you're trying to build an infrastructure internally in terms of the team structure but also you're trying to expand your aero department and you're still trying to do updates on this year's car; it's tough."
With a new technical director in Mark Smith having finally started work for the team in early May, Chandhok said he was confident the rewards would be seen in 2012.
"We keep pushing. Mark Smith has come in and he's gone off and said we need to really up the ante on the aero department, and therefore we've done the deal with Williams for the wind tunnel now. So all of that I think will add up for next year's car hopefully."
When asked if the target for Lotus was still to make the second part of qualifying on a regular basis, Chandhok said he felt it was but admitted it was a tall order this season.
"I think so, that's something more for Mike [Gascoyne] and Tony to answer so it's up to them. It would be nice to make Q2 but at the moment we're nearly a second behind now, so realistically it's going to be tough."
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