Expectations are always difficult things. Whether it is in your job, at home or on the track. Teams often feel positive about their chances and the results they'd like to see from their hard work and to those ends, they tend to offer positive thoughts regarding their expected results. Unfortunately, as Mercedes and numerous other teams have shown us, those results aren't always forthcoming.
Caterham F1 told AUTOSPORT that they would like to try and right-size the expectations for 2013 with their internal stakeholders as well as fans. The team have often made comments about fighting in the mid-field and the past three years have had them no where close to that reality.
New team boss Cyril Abiteboul says that they need to be realistic about their chances when speaking to the public on Twitter et. al. The young boss is effectively saying, "lower your standards" because working from reality is important:
"I want us to make sure that we perfectly understand all that is happening on track, which is a big change from last year," Abiteboul said.
"I want us to be fully in control of why something is working or not working".
It's a healthy position to take as the team have been disappointing over the past three years having no made the jump in 2012 across to the mid-field teams even though they acquired Renault engines and KERS.
In the same article, Abiteboul seems to offer the same sort of optimistic aspirations that have gotten them in this place to begin with...he says that perhaps scoring points is possible in 2013, just not in the first few races.
"I also want us to make sure that we seize any possible opportunities, including opportunities to score, because that is something that at some point of the season - not for the first races, but at some point - might happen".
To be fair, he does say that any points scored in 2013 would not necessarily be made on merit but on attrition or being int he right place at the right time. In that sense, he may be laddering up the expectations a bit but offering mea culpa on it being purely conditional and not through sheer performance.
What do you think? Is this a healthier position for the team to take? Realistic expectations or should they continue to aspire for more?