After spending the best part of a decade with the well-funded Renault and Toyota teams, the Italian veteran steered right to the back of the grid for 2010 by signing with Lotus.
Tony Fernandes’ new Malaysian team has re-signed him for 2011, as Trulli admitted how difficult this season was.
“At the first test it was obvious what the facts were,” the 36-year-old said in an interview with the Dutch magazine formule1.nl.
“I knew the year was over and the only way to keep motivation was to count down to next season,” added Trulli.
Although with a brand new team powered by a smaller than usual budget whose car was designed and built in record time, Trulli admits he did not expect 2010 to be quite so difficult.
“Of course I expected a difficult season in terms of performance, but not so much on the reliability side.
“By the end, I was used to it. What can you do? Getting angry doesn’t help.
“The worst thing was when you had to just finish the race. In Brazil for example the hydraulics failed and I still managed to finish, but it’s not how you like to drive.
“But by Brazil I had reached a point when I didn’t get angry. Not that I was indifferent, but I was doing it for the team.
“It was important to beat the other newcomers to finish tenth in the world championship, so it doesn’t matter if you’re not performing as you want or are tired of the hydraulics failing — the team comes first,” said Trulli.
“Anyway, the season is over now. I managed to motivate myself until the last race and I’m really looking forward to 2011,” he insisted.
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