Pastor Maldonado believes Lotus will gain “half a second” with the move to Mercedes power next season.
The Enstone-based team have grappled with performance and reliability deficiencies from the Renault power unit all season long among their various woes, but are to race with the dominant Mercedes power unit in 2015 as part of a multi-year deal with the new constructors champions.
Maldonado, who is yet to score a point for Lotus this season, is eyeing to emulate former team Williams’ resurgence in pure performance and says Lotus’ target is to “come to Williams’ level” when speaking to German news Publication Auto Motor und Sport.
“We will automatically win half a second compared to the situation now, and we will also benefit aerodynamically, because the (Mercedes) power unit takes up less space.” the Venezualan said
He also sees the extra lap time coming from “not only more power but more reliability” along with improvements in “cooling”.
