Lotus Racing Post-bahrain / Pre-melbourne Thoughts: Tony Fernandes

Lotus Racing arrived in Melbourne, Australia, set for round two of the 2010 Formula One™ World Championship. After exceeding expectations for a six month old team in Bahrain, with both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen's cars being classified and being the only new team to see one of its cars past the finish line, attention now turns to Albert Park's street circuit and the challenges that it presents. After such a great opening performance the atmosphere in the team is better than ever and the huge number of visitors dropping by to say congratulations in Melbourne, and the massive volume of fans giving fantastic feedback online, attests to the ever growing popularity of Lotus Racing from within the sport, amongst F1 fans, and in the growing number of general sports fans being attracted to such an open, honest team.

Kicking off with his thoughts on Bahrain and Australia is Tony Fernandes, Lotus Racing Team Principal, who will be flying in on Saturday night to join the team for the race on Sunday: "Australia is a special place for me – it's where I spent my gap year when I was younger, where I did a lot of work in the music business, and learnt a huge amount about that industry, and where Air Asia X has a very strong stake. The whole weekend will be great, but Sunday will be a special day for me and the many Australian Lotus owners when we see the T127 on track and mixing it with the world's best. After our great start in Bahrain we are continuing to stay realistic, and in Melbourne we are again aiming to finish and learn as much as we can in our ever deepening quest to get to the top. I can't wait to get there!"