Lotus will officially kick off the build-up to the 2013 Formula 1 season on Monday night when it unveils its new E21 during an online launch.
The Enstone-based outfit is hoping that the new car builds on the momentum of its successful E20 – which delivered a victory in the hands of Kimi Raikkonen in Abu Dhabi last November.
With only subtle changes to the regulations for this year, allied to the fact that Lotus managed to bounce back from a mid-season loss of momentum, team principal Eric Boullier told AUTOSPORT over the winter that he would be satisfied if his team could begin the new campaign in the same shape as it ended last year.
“I would be very happy to start the season with the same car performance we had last year relative to everyone else,” Boullier told AUTOSPORT.
“I know both our drivers will be race fit and, let’s say, delivering more than 12 months ago.
“On the team front, last year we lost a little bit of ground during the summer, but we know where and we know why it happened. We learned from our mistake and we will not do the same strategy with next year’s car development.
“At the same time, we performed well at the end of this season, and found some of our performance back, so it was a good fight until the end. It was good to see Enstone was capable of delivering as much as the bigger teams.”
Lotus’s car will be unveiled on its own YouTube channel at 7.15pm GMT.
Following the Lotus launch on Monday, McLaren will follow with its unveiling at its Woking factory on Thursday, before both Ferrari and Force India launch their cars on Friday.
2013 pre-season dates
Car launchesTeam Date
Lotus January 28
McLaren January 31
Ferrari February 1
Force India February 1
Sauber February 2
Red Bull February 3
Mercedes February 4
Toro Rosso February 4
Caterham February 5
Williams February 19Testing
Venue Date
Jerez 5-8 February
Barcelona 19-22 February
Barcelona 28 February-3 March
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