Lotus Operations Director Alan Permane insists that the Enstone team has the potential to rival top 10 regulars like McLaren and score points consistently.
Lotus have struggled throughout the initial parts of the season, but were given a bit of a boost when Romain Grosjean ended in 11th place in Malaysia, their first finish of the season.
“Racing for tenth is not what we want to do, but when you look at where teams like McLaren are, they certainly look very catchable,” Permane told Autosport.
“We don’t need to stick a great deal [of performance] in to do that.
“We know we have an awful lot coming power unit wise, so we know we can certainly react to them and although we are far back, it won’t take a lot.