Gastaldi: Too early to call for equalisation
Lotus deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi has said that it is too early in the 2015 F1 campaign for any team to be calling for the playing field to be levelled.
Although such claims were quieter after last weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix, there was furore after the season-opening round in Melbourne, with Red Bull's Christian Horner particularly vocal after his Renault-powered squad was left trailing by the Mercedes works team. Although he subsequently back-tracked on his comments blaming frustration in the wake of the Australian race, Horner still faces the reality that Renault is not the power unit to have as Ferrari makes steps forward in pursuit of the Three Pointed Star.
Having escaped the Renault camp and hooked up with Mercedes over the winter, Lotus has a different take on the situation than it may have had a year ago but, despite ironically being without a point so far in 2015, Gastaldi insists that calling for equalisation measures after a single race is a tad premature.
"We heard these calls after the first race of the season, which was maybe a little early to be making such noise," the Italian noted, "Now, after two races, there have been two different teams who have taken race wins, so the idea that Mercedes will have it all their own way this year was a little premature.
"F1 is always very competitive and it doesn't matter which year you're in or the circumstances of a team in any given year: we all want to win and will do everything we can to become as competitive as possible. Of course, we have a promoter and a regulatory body which are both very attuned to the various needs of the sport, so every aspect is always very closely scrutinised."
Sebastian Vettel's unexpected success at Sepang has shown that it is possible for teams other than Mercedes to take the chequered flag in 2015, and Gastaldi hopes that that trend continues.
"The Malaysian Grand Prix was a great race in terms of the spectacle on track and, if we have races like that for the rest of the season, we're in for a pretty good time!" he said, "Just like any year, we're sure to have some races which have people on the edges of their seats as well as some which are far more tactical and appeal more to the connoisseur. That's the nature of F1.
"And, just as we see a variety of different natured racing over the course of a season, it's also often the case that we hear lots of opinions about the sport as we have done already this year. No matter what people's opinion, it's great that people are talking about F1."
