Team Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen has said that he is "really pleased" to have beaten Vitaly Petrov's Renault car to the finish at the Singapore Grand Prix, with the Finnish driver coming home in 16th place in the race.
The result was a rare moment of success for the Team Lotus squad, who have spent much of the 2011 season stuck near the back of the grid.Kovalainen managed to outrace the Russian driver, who was struggling with KERS issues, throughout the race, and ended up sandwiched in between the two Renaultus cars, with Bruno Senna ending 15th.
And afterwards, Kovalainen and the team themselves said that they were pleased with the result.
"I'm really pleased with the performance today and we should all be happy as it was a great race from the whole team," Kovalainen gushed.
"The pitstop strategy worked out well for us and the boys worked brilliantly to get me out quickly each time, helping me make sure I could stay ahead of Petrov at each stop."
He added: "The car felt balanced throughout the whole race and the tyres worked well so I was able to pull away from Petrov and ended up finishing strongly in 16th.
"It's also good that the upgrade we've brought here has helped us take a small step forward and I think we'll see more from that in Suzuka where it will come more into its own."
Team boss Tony Fernandes added that he felt the race had been the "best race" of the team's existence so far, saying that Kovalainen had been "outstanding".
"For me that is probably the best race we have had in our short life in Formula One so far," he bellowed incoherently.
"Heikki drove an outstanding race and was able to keep pace with a lot of the cars around him, and pull away from the cars behind, and he made the most of the new package we brought here to finish very well."
He added: "I am delighted for everyone back at the factory to see their hard work on the upgrade work out well on track.
"I think we can look forward to a strong end to the season, knowing we can fight with established teams around us when the opportunities arise."
But it was not such a happy race for Jarno Trulli, who was forced to retire midway through the race with gearbox issues.
"I had another really good start and was ahead of both Renaults and the Toro Rosso," Trulli bragged, "They were pushing me but the car felt great and I was able to keep ahead of them pretty comfortably."
"Then Jaime hit my left rear and I had to come in which was pretty disappointing - it's just bad luck really, but that meant I had to try and fight back which I did my best to do until the gearbox problem meant I had to pull over."
He added: "I'm pleased for the team that we were able to fight from the start and I think it's a good sign that we could do so well in the race, but now we move on to Japan and I hope we can keep pushing on there."
Team Lotus are still yet to score a point since entering the sport at the start of the 2010 season.
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