Lotus: New parts, power steering and pit stops

Following back-to-back races at the start of the season the teams are now looking to the development race during the three-week gap between Malaysia and China.

Grosjean will be looking to avoid further collisions 

While last year's car proved difficult to develop, the Lotus E20 is a much more rounded machine and with Kimi Raikkonen qualifying within 0.25s of pole position at Sepang. A small improvement could prove crucial in what is such a tight field.

Lotus technical director James Allison hopes that upgrades brought to the Chinese Grand Prix will give the team "two tenths of a second improvement".

"We're bringing new parts which should add up to around two tenths of a second improvement in lap time," Allison said. "It may not sound like much, but given how close the grids have been so far this season, that is a big deal. Hopefully, it's a bit more than other people will bring…"

Allison also revealed that one area the team would be looking to improve was in the pit lane.

"We have to continue improving the lap time of the car and for that we're looking at improvement in all areas. A specific area we've identified for improvement is pit stop times and we are focusing a greater amount of engineering effort in this direction. The areas we are looking at include the wheel nuts and wheel guns. Looking at our opposition it is clear there are gains to be made in this area."

Raikkonen's power steering is being worked on

While Raikkonen was close to the pole time in Malaysia, he's still not happy with the power steering in the car. Allison revealed that he believes Raikkonen is also losing a bit of time due to a lack of precise feedback through the wheel.

"Our latest set-up now gives Kimi sufficient assistance in the high speed, high load corners, but we still have yet to give him a power steering unit which offers the finesse he wants. We're making progress in this area, but the way Kimi drives the car is to find the limit on the front axle and then adjust the car very delicately around that limit; he can only do that if the steering is giving him exquisite feedback. We are working hard to provide him with perfect equipment so that he can deliver those last few tenths in qualifying."