Having failed to make the step forward the team had hoped for, Lotus drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli are now hanging their hopes on finally joining the midfield battle in 2012.

"We definitely didn't hit the target we wanted this year," admits Trulli. "We were a bit optimistic at the beginning of the season when we wanted to be in the midfield but eventually the reality is we found out that it is hard this year to be in the midfield. I would say impossible.

"We made a step, but the step was not big enough," he continued, and few can argue. After securing tenth in the championship in its debut year, the team had high expectations for 2011. The season has not gone according to plan however, the team's best result being three thirteenth place finishes. It's a long way short of the points finishes it had aimed for.

"I think we need to make a car that is mechanically reliable and is very simple to set up, is not complicated, and that is the plan," said Heikki Kovalainen. "We can take some of the stuff from this year's car towards that. Aerodynamically that's where our biggest gains would be."

Still lacking downforce compared to its rivals, Lotus has enjoyed a rather lonely season in which it's outpaced rivals HRT and Virgin, but failed to catch the likes of Toro Rosso and the rest of the midfield squabble. But the car isn't all bad, according to Kovalainen, who suggests if nothing more it's a good platform to build on for next season. "Honestly I think mechanically and chassis wise it's not too bad," he said. "Mechanically we don't need to change it.

Now using Williams wind tunnel, together with a new deal which will see it run current spec Red Bull components next season, the team is investing heavily on development. With the design of next year's car already well underway, Kovalainen is hoping the team's efforts reap a noticeable improvement. "We're increasing our aero time in the wind tunnel and that will directly help us to gain performance," he believes. "The number of people in the aero department is also increasing so we can actually run the wind tunnels more and more."

"Next year we won't have the exhausts blowing," he continued. "That is working very well for us. I think with Renault onboard we are benefiting quite well from the know-how, and the way they have set up that system is very good. Next year when we take that away it means an even bigger challenge for our aero department to find the pure, clean downforce with no drag."

"There are things in place that show that we should improve our car," agrees Trulli. "But that is the story of Formula One: everyone thinks they can do better and they all move a little bit forward. It all depends how good the new car will be, and it's very difficult to judge. Even if you take the top teams I'm sure they are very disappointed by their season because obviously they've been blown away by the Red Bulls.

"So let's see what we can do for next year," the Italian continued. "If we want to do the step we want we need to change a few things."