Caterham (formerly Lotus)

Team Lotus

FIA Entry: Team Lotus
Car 20: Heikki Kovaleinen
Car 21: Jarno Trulli
Engine: Renault V8
Team Principal: Tony Fernandes
Technical Director: Mike Gascoyne
Race Engineer Car 20: Juan Pablo Ramirez
Race Engineer Car 21: Gianluca Pisanello

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 2010
Races Entered 20
Race Wins 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
Driver World Championships 0
Constructor World Championships 0

Team Lotus

Tony Fernandes' 1Malaysia F1 team lay claim to one of the most iconic names in F1, Team Lotus. Team Lotus, under the guidance of one of the greatest innovators in F1 Colin Chapman, was in F1 from 1958 to 1994. They took part in 491 Grands Prix, winning 73 races, 7 Constructors Titles, 6 Drivers Championships, 102 poles and 65 fastest laps. During this time some of the greatest F1 drivers drove for Team Lotus including Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Ayrton Senna, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jochen Rindt and Nigel Mansell.

2010 Team Lotus

With the support of the Malaysian government via Proton cars and two Malaysian Companies, Tune and Naza Groups, Tony Fernandes entered F1 under the Team Lotus name. Using Cosworth engines and Xtrac gearboxes Lotus signed up experienced drivers for their first season in F1 with Heikki Kovaleinen and Jarno Trulli.

The cars proved reasonably reliable although not quick enough to threaten the mid-field teams. Kovaleinen managed Lotus’ best finish with a 12th place in Japan and the team, based on count back of non-points scoring finishes, were placed 10th in the Constructors Championship – the best of the new teams for 2010.

2011

Lotus announced during 2010 that they would switch to Renault engines for 2011 along with Red Bull gearbox and hydraulic technology. The same driver line up is retained and they will use the T128 chassis.

Whether the team continue to use the Lotus name will be decided in the British High Court. Proton, owners of the Group Lotus name, have moved their allegiance to the former Renault team although ownership of the Team Lotus name is in dispute as this was owned by David Hunt, brother of 1976 World Champion James and sold to Fernandes.
 
Yeah but Lotus F1 isn't the same as Group Lotus... Group Lotus is still owned by Proton.
True enough Josh.But Proton are now owned by DRB Hicom. not the Malysian government.Added to which Genii have just completed a due diligence inspection of Group Lotus with an intention to buy.
http://news.yahoo.com/malaysias-drb-hicom-buy-carmaker-proton-061806901.html
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom Berhad said Monday it will buy national carmaker Proton in a 3 billion ringgit ($957 million) deal that could help revive Proton's flagging fortunes.
DRB-Hicom said it would pay 1.29 billion ringgit ($412 million) for government investment arm Khazanah Nasional's 43 percent
stake in Proton. It will then make an offer for all Proton shares it doesn't own at 5.50 ringgit ($1.80) a share. Analysts said this would bring the total deal to around 3 billion ringgit.
Khazanah said the share sale would help put Proton on a more competitive footing. Analysts said it could help turnaround the struggling carmaker, which has failed in recent years to seal tie-ups with foreign carmakers including Volkswagen AG due to the government's insistence on maintaining control over a high profile local company.
DRB-Hicom, controlled by billionaire tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, distributes and assembles vehicles for Volkswagen, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Honda Motor Co. The group is also involved in banking, services and property sectors.
 
Just been thinking about the new Caterham situation.

Petrov has now bought his way in to the second seat but Fernandes has Van Der Garde sitting in the wings who illedgedly has 6 million Euro's in his pocket so Petrov better be quick to prove his worth.

Now the roubles have been handed over and Trulli's contract bought out I would not be surprised if before the end of the season Vitaly is shown the door whilst Giedo is ushered in - Fernandes collects another big pay check to secure his teams future and then he doesn't have to have a pay driver in 2013 thus allowing him to bring in either Razia or Rossi from GP2 just in time for the team to edge into competitivness.

A lot of conjection but that would be a slick business move
 
If you look at these two comments it would seem that Fernandes is feeling the financial strain of running his F1 team.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17042953
Caterham's decision is based on two major factors.
One was that the budget Petrov brings - worth several million pounds - is the equivalent of having a new major sponsor, a
significant consideration in the current difficult economic climate, especially given that Trulli needed paying a salary.
The other was the usual size of the margin between Kovalainen and Trulli - often nearly a second in qualifying.
Fernandes - owner of the Air Asia airline and Queens Park Rangers Football Club - has also been putting pressure on the team to become more self-sufficient. They have so far mostly been funded by his businesses.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97562
Trulli said his exit had not come as a surprise to him, and is hoping the financial backing Petrov brings helps Caterham secure a better future.
"Personally I'm not displeased: I was prepared for a possible divorce from Caterham, in the knowledge that the difficult economic situation would have pushed the team to find an adequately-supported driver," Trulli told the Ansa news agency.
"Small teams have certain needs and contracts are clear. I hope that, with Petrov's contribution, all the people who work there can have a more serene future."
 
Didn't say he'd be driving for them, to be fair!

True enough.But Jarno intends to keep racing.He may drop down a formula and race in one of the Caterham Group lower formula's but he wants to race something.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97562
Trulli, 37, said he plans to continue racing in the future despite his exit from Formula 1.
"I own a wine production company and a hotel in Switzerland so I'm quite busy, but my job is racing driver and that's what I count on keep doing: either in Formula 1 or elsewhere."
His words here seem to indicate that he has severed all ties with Caterham.
http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/17583/7529351/Trulli-No-support-for-Italian-talent "Personally I'm not displeased: I was prepared for a possible divorce from Caterham, in the knowledge that the difficult economic situation would have pushed the team to find an adequately-supported driver," he added.
 
Why didn't they sign Petrov earlier before the tests started? Bit of a shame for Trulli from "best testing ever" to no drive in the space of a week.
 
Why didn't they sign Petrov earlier before the tests started? Bit of a shame for Trulli from "best testing ever" to no drive in the space of a week.

Because they were still negotiating this deal before comitting themselves.
http://www.caterhamf1.com/news/2012/sibur-announced-as-team-partner
Caterham F1 team has today announced that it has signed a deal with SIBUR to be an official team partner.

SIBUR, the largest petrochemical company in Russia and Eastern Europe, has also confirmed that it is continuing the partnership agreement it began in 2011 with Vitaly Petrov in his new role as Race Driver for the Anglo/Malaysian Caterham F1 Team. The SIBUR logo will feature on the CT01 cars and on Vitaly's race suits throughout the 2012 season.
 
Wouldn't it be great if that is an example of what we have to look forward to on Sky F1 - Shades of John Frakenheimers Grand Prix.
 
So I read an interview with the Dutch F1 commentator today and he had a few interesting things to say.

Apparently, Giedo van der Garde was set to actually race for Caterham this season if Trulli quit. However, at the last moment, Petrov bought himself a seat (with an option, but I'm not entirely sure what that means) with 11 million dollars thus putting van der Garde out of the race seat.
Petrov was fired because of financial issues, so if he has financial problems again this season van der Garde will drive for Caterham.

Olav Mol (the commentator) said he knows all this from an inside source.


I'm not sure how much (if any) of this is true but I don't really see a reason for him to lie about this or anything.
 
The commentator is dutch and Giedo van der Garde is also Dutch. This provides a nationalistic motivation for economic truths. I'm not saying he is lying, but if you are looking for reason why he might that would be an extremely obvious one.
 
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