Mike Gascoyne says smaller teams are pushed down the waiting list © Sutton Images Enlarge Related Links Drivers:

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Lotus technical director Mike Gascoyne has said that bigger teams are paying suppliers more money in order to receive parts at a quicker rate.

The Resource Restriction Agreement puts a limit on how much teams can buy from outside suppliers, which has led to teams with big budgets simply making the parts themselves. This has in turn freed up funds to pay more for the parts they do need to bring in, and Gascoyne told Auto Motor und Sport that it causes delays for the smaller teams.

"The big teams get something made quickly by paying an extra bonus," Gascoyne said. "Slipping a small team a few places back on the waiting list. There is a high demand, also because there are twelve teams today instead of ten."

The larger grid has been cited as a problem by Bernie Ecclestone too, who said he wants to reduce the number of teams to ten. That puts pressure on the likes of Virgin and HRT to perform, with Gascoyne admitting Lotus have to move forward.

"It's very clear," he told Reuters. "We absolutely have to be racing the second division of the established teams - Toro Rosso, Sauber, Force India. And that's a big ask after being in existence as a Formula One team for only 18 months. But one thing that would be great for Formula One is the message that you can do that, because it shows you can come in as a small team from scratch with a sensible budget."

Gascoyne also appeared to fire a warning shot towards the teams it entered alongside last season, with Virgin off the pace of the midfield teams during testing and HRT yet to run but not expected to bridge the gap.

"Formula One is about competition," he said. "It's the peak of motorsport, you shouldn't be there as a spare part. You've got to be there competing and if you don't raise your game to that level, don't be there."

As Lotus look to move up the grid, fellow 2010 newcomers Virgin have looked less impressive during the pre-season, and Timo Glock has admitted that its new car appears to be well off the pace.

"I have to say our laptimes do not look good," Glock told spox.com. "Compared to Lotus, we are lagging behind quite a bit on the long runs. We are definitely a bit off where we wanted to be and I can only hope that our technical director Nick Wirth can give us a good car for the fourth race in Turkey."