Pastor Maldonado eyeing top-five Spain finish

Pastor Maldonado believes that Lotus have what it takes to finish in the top five at next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, despite failing to score a single point so far this season.

The Venezuelan, whose only race win in Formula 1 came at the Circuit de Catalunya in 2012, is confident that the new upgrades for his car can now make the team more competitive than in the first four races of 2014.

"I'm expecting to be more competitive," he told reporters. "It will be very important to start scoring some points, but if everything goes well and we get some luck too then a top five is possible.

"It is going to be difficult. There are the two Mercedes and two Red Bulls and then others who have shown good pace in recent races like Force India.

"But if we get 100% from the car we can fight all of the other teams and come away with something good to build on."

Maldonado has failed to achieve a podium finish since his solitary grand prix win in Spain two years ago.