Lotus F1 thrilled with Bahrain Grand Prix debut

Gascoyne will be back in Norfolk improving the car this week

Lotus F1 chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne was thrilled with how the team's cars performed during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

"I'm just so pleased for the team, for [team boss] Tony Fernandes and everyone back in Hingham," Gascoyne said.

"We had so little time to do this project but we said we'd be there and get two cars to the finish."

The Norfolk-based team built the cars from scratch in fewer than six months and both cars finished the race.

In marked contrast the two other new teams for 2010, Virgin and Hispania, failed to get a car through the chequered flag.

"We had so little time to do this project but we said we'd be there and get two cars to the finish," Gascoyne continued.

"You could see in the race that the lap times were much better than those in qualifying so this is something to build on.

"We were out there racing with Williams - that's what we are there to do - we will get quicker and quicker."

With the Australian Grand Prix just two weeks later the team have to get straight back to work in order to improve the car's performance.

"We need to get the car quicker and move forward. I'll be in with the aerodynamicist in Hingham this week trying to make the car even quicker."