Mike Gascoyne believes Hingham's Team Lotus can be back firing on all cylinders for this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The Norfolk marque's hopes of bridging the gap to Formula One's midfield teams have looked a tall order in recent races, with rounds in Canada and Europe actually seeing their fellow 2010 new boys Virgin and Hispania make relative progress.

But being in the UK is the perfect platform for Team Lotus to reassert themselves, according to their Norwich-born chief technical officer.

'I think all the signs are that Silverstone will be a good race for us,' said Gascoyne. 'It's one of our two home grand prix, so it is a chance to race in front of our families and friends, and after we slipped a little in Valencia it gives us the opportunity to get back to the level of performance that we know we can extract from this year's car.'

Changes to the way cars use their exhaust gases and engines to aid downforce come into effect fully for the first time this weekend around Silverstone, new regulations which many hope will curtain Red Bull's dominance as well as pegging back some of the other teams.

In truth, most of the grid's performance is likely to be adversely effected – although Gascoyne hope his outfit will come through fine.

'I do not think the rule changes we will see at Silverstone will have a great effect on the grid order but we have been making preparations for this weekend, both in the wind tunnel and in some of the work we have been doing at the straight-line test, so we know what to expect,' he added.