Tony Fernandes has responded to the comments made by Eddie Jordan on the BBC this afternoon during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
Jordan, speaking at the end of Q1, complained that the three new teams – Team Lotus, Virgin Racing and HRT – were ‘ absolutely anchored’ to the back of the grid, making the first part of each qualifying session too predictable.
The former team owner described these team’s apparent lack of progress as ‘unacceptable’, adding that he wanted to see ‘a spark from at least one of them’. ‘Where is their willpower, finances, mentality?’, he questioned.
Fernandes, the team principal at Team Lotus, responded positively to these comments:
“I noticed some of what Eddie Jordan said on the BBC this afternoon and I take that sort of comment as a positive – he is not alone in wanting to see us keep moving further up but Rome was not built in a day and our plan has always been worked out over the long-term,” he said. “We cannot rush this and we always knew that securing tenth place in the first two seasons would give us the platform to build for a secure future, so we are on target to achieve that.
“Over the next few weeks we will unveil some more of the plans for next season and beyond, and having seen the development plan for next year's car I am confident the foundations we have laid will help us reach where we want to be. Hopefully in years to come people with the experience of Eddie will be proud of what we have achieved, and we will take his comments as a positive force for us to keep pushing on.”