Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has said that he is confident that the 2012 Formula One season can be better than their 2011 campaign, saying that their new E20 car was "clearly" an improvement on last season's effort.
Running as Renault, the Enstone team struggled to keep pace after a bright start to 2011, falling back down the order thanks to some dubious development work on their unique front-exiting exhausts.
But for 2012, the team has rebranded as Lotus F1, and have signed former world champion Kimi Raikkonen to spearhead their resurgence.
And speaking at a Lotus media event on Monday, Boullier said that he was convinced that the team, with their new E20 car that was officially launched on Sunday, would have a better season this year.
"It's going to go well," he was quoted as saying by Autosport, "If you look at the car, you will see that the finish is very nice. It's clearly two steps better."
But as for a firm target for the year, Boullier was more circumspect, suggesting that the team would simply aim for an "upward spiral" throughout the year.
"The real objective this year is to have a positive upward spiral and to make sure that the team is getting better and improves throughout the year building up the ambition we have to be a top team," he rambled, cannily failing to set any specific aims.
"This means that we want to get back to where we were at the beginning of 2011, getting better and better every year and establishing it as one of the top teams in the short term."
He added: "I don't want to put a figure on our ambition because it's difficult to say which position [we want to finish] but we would like to improve and do better. That means being better than the top five [in the constructors championship]."
And Boullier reiterated that he was convinced that Raikkonen was the right choice to lead the team in 2012, despite the Finn having spent the last two seasons away from the sport.
"He is a proper racer and fits in well with a team that is a bunch of proper racers," Boullier grunted, "When he is in the car, he knows exactly what he wants and that makes the team's life easier.
"It means more ambition and more responsibility [for the team] but it is also a different way of working with a world champion. He wants to win again and that's an ambition that we share."
He added: "It was an easy discussion [to sign him for 2012] and when he did the couple of days running he showed the team how motivated and professional he is. It was a huge boost for the team morale and the team motivation."
Raikkonen will return to official action on Tuesday, driving the E20 in the first day of pre-season testing at the Jerez circuit.
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