Team Lotus

[skeggysteve]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86640

At the moment the Louts F1 team is called Lotus Racing but the boss Tony Fernandes has brought the rights to the Team Lotus name from David Hunt so next year they will be called Team Lotus.

It seems to me that Tony F really knows the history and wants 'his' team to have the right name.

With the rumoured Renault engines next year I have high hopes for Team Lotus.

[sirtyro]

It was good to see what he had to say on the F1 Forum today. Seems like he is really genuinely interested in the sport and making the Lotus team a success. Have seen way more of him then Mr Branson! I really hope Lotus beat them and he has to do a shift on a long haul flight for Tony

[Ponk]

sirtyro said:

It was good to see what he had to say on the F1 Forum today. Seems like he is really genuinely interested in the sport and making the Lotus team a success. Have seen way more of him then Mr Branson! I really hope Lotus beat them and he has to do a shift on a long haul flight for Tony

Good, keep it that way! Mr Branson apparently hasn't paid Virgin/Manor/Wirth a cent of what he owes them yet.

[jellison]

Ponk said:

sirtyro said:

It was good to see what he had to say on the F1 Forum today. Seems like he is really genuinely interested in the sport and making the Lotus team a success. Have seen way more of him then Mr Branson! I really hope Lotus beat them and he has to do a shift on a long haul flight for Tony

Good, keep it that way! Mr Branson apparently hasn't paid Virgin/Manor/Wirth a cent of what he owes them yet.

I didn't think he was paying them anything - done some weird deal to have headline billing on the Manor car with that name alledgely going to pull in more cash. But if this is not right and he owes them, I would not be surprised.

It was bold to run with no wind tunnel and just CFD - but I think Lotus and the other teams show really you need both.

[plg]

jellison said:

Good, keep it that way! Mr Branson apparently hasn't paid Virgin/Manor/Wirth a cent of what he owes them yet.

I didn't think he was paying them anything - done some weird deal to have headline billing on the Manor car with that name alledgely going to pull in more cash. But if this is not right and he owes them, I would not be surprised.

My understanding was that it wasn't a traditional sponsorship model - but a brand leverage model. ie. Virgin loaned their name as a brand platform to bring other sponsors, events and activities to Manor/Virgin - which would (in theory) accelerate the addition of other global name sponsors that wouldn't otherwise choose to sponsor a team of their size.

Good news for Lotus - I can see them being much closer next year - buying the whole engine / gearbox / KERS and presumably the support that comes with it is a solid plan.

edit: Now confirmed re: Lotus / Renault.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...

Edited by plg on Monday 13th September 10:13

[jellison]

Good Stuff the Engine deal - Tony F does seem like the ideal man in charge of a Realk race team. Virgin - hmm, just playing at it.

Glock has to be looking to get back into a top team.

[plg]

jellison said:

Good Stuff the Engine deal - Tony F does seem like the ideal man in charge of a Realk race team. Virgin - hmm, just playing at it.

Glock has to be looking to get back into a top team.

If Schumi does retire - Glock to Mercedes?

[jellison]

plg said:

jellison said:

Good Stuff the Engine deal - Tony F does seem like the ideal man in charge of a Realk race team. Virgin - hmm, just playing at it.

Glock has to be looking to get back into a top team.

If Schumi does retire - Glock to Mercedes?

That would be good - sadly I can't se it happening!

[plg]

jellison said:

plg said:

jellison said:

Good Stuff the Engine deal - Tony F does seem like the ideal man in charge of a Realk race team. Virgin - hmm, just playing at it.
Glock has to be looking to get back into a top team.

If Schumi does retire - Glock to Mercedes?

That would be good - sadly I can't se it happening!

It would be good - I think he is an underrated driver. I don't think he carries much sponsorship though - I suspect Mercedes will need another "big name" or someone well funded from a feeder formula.

[plg]

Apologies - my link is correct but only repeats the piece from TF on the BBC forum yesterday. No formal news yet.

[skeggysteve]

Looks like things are not as simple as it first looked:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/a-mess-d...

[Fire99]

So we could end up with Team Lotus F1 and Lotus Group F1 fighting it out. All of a sudden Lotus is everywhere.

[davepoth]

So the Prime Minister of Malaysia gets to decide this. Let's hope he manages to think of something sensible and makes them play nice.

-edit-

The plot thickens. Tony Fernandes is standing down as head of Lotus F1 from the end of the season, and is being replaced by a gentleman by the name of Riad Asmat. He was General Manager at Proton until 2006, when he moved to head up Proton's motorsport division...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riad_Asmat

Edited by davepoth on Wednesday 22 September 22:14

[Fire99]

davepoth said:

So the Prime Minister of Malaysia gets to decide this. Let's hope he manages to think of something sensible and makes them play nice.

-edit-

The plot thickens. Tony Fernandes is standing down as head of Lotus F1 from the end of the season, and is being replaced by a gentleman by the name of Riad Asmat. He was General Manager at Proton until 2006, when he moved to head up Proton's motorsport division...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riad_Asmat

Edited by davepoth on Wednesday 22 September 22:14

Where have you heard that Tony Fernandes is standing down? No mention of that anywhere that I can see.

[MiniMan64]

Jesus what a mess.

[dirty boy]

Just wish someone could come along aand run the whole lot under one roof.

[davepoth]

Fire99 said:

davepoth said:

So the Prime Minister of Malaysia gets to decide this. Let's hope he manages to think of something sensible and makes them play nice.

-edit-

The plot thickens. Tony Fernandes is standing down as head of Lotus F1 from the end of the season, and is being replaced by a gentleman by the name of Riad Asmat. He was General Manager at Proton until 2006, when he moved to head up Proton's motorsport division...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riad_Asmat

Edited by davepoth on Wednesday 22 September 22:14

Where have you heard that Tony Fernandes is standing down? No mention of that anywhere that I can see.

Only on Wikipedia. Which I suppose is a pretty stupid place to take information from.

[rubystone]

Bahar is connected. And he knows BCE. I thought that Fernandes initially didn't take on the CEO role at Lotus Racing, but later backed into it? Seems strange that he might now duck out?

[davepoth]

I read on a bit more, the thing about him leaving was from earlier this year, and he back-tracked on it.

[Shaw Tarse]

Big press conference tomorrow with Tony and some very important and exciting announcements about the team