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.
 
The differences between Lord Hesketh's feel-good operation and Tony Fernandes' vanity venture are far too numerous to even count. I see no similarities whatsoever, aside from their short tenure in the sport that is.
 
I see any small and, possibly, underfunded team as a 'modern day' Hesketh.

What is/was the difference between Hesketh and Fernandes in your eyes?
 
Oh boy, where to begin!

Hesketh and Bubbles went racing to enjoy themselves, pure and simple. Tony saw a business opportunity under the pretense that Ferrari and McLaren (et al) spending would be reigned in to a (relatively) paltry 40 Million.

Hesketh not only portrayed, but wholeheartedly lived the devil-may-care attitude that endeared them to many a fan. Team Lotus Air Asia Caterham never once inspired any sort of feel-good atmosphere that signified the Hesketh/Horsely/Hunt era. Fernandes' outift was as boringly corporate as you could imagine. The only charm they engendered was due to the fact that they were the natural "David" to F1's "Goliath's".

I could honestly go on and on about how Caterham doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Hesketh, but I feel absolutely no need, because its quite obvious to anyone taking an honest view of the situation.

Fernandes' actions over the past 3 months clearly show that he was never a racer, simply an opportunist.
 
Finally outed as an old style racer then :).

But the F1 world has sadly moved on and, we the fans, have to move on too, whilst taking comfort from those who dare whatever their motive.

If we were to remove all the 'corporate' teams now, there would be sod all left. Opportunists abound whether they have history or not and Caterham is/was just one more chancing their arm.
 
Alex and James were extraordinary in what they did. So you are probably right as few chance their arm any more!
 
I expect them to turn up do one racing lap and claim the 2 mill prize money which will not go towards paying the staff what they are owed but straight in to matey boy's back bin...
 
The lack of minnows showing up to compete for the honor of bringing up the rear is of no consequence when assessing the supreme sporting nature of Formula One. Pre-qualifying is a relic from a bye-gone era born out of necessity and was more of an inconvenience than anything. I've watched several of those old pre-Quali sessions and it was more Amateur-hour than F1.
I think it's always been obvious who the "minnows" are. The teams that wouldn't win even if everyone else retired that day, because they probably would too.
Manufacturers are modern day F1's bread and butter. The disappearance of Caterham and Marussia says absolutely nothing to me about the sporting nature of Formula One.
 
Finally outed as an old style racer then :).

Never been a secret. Even though I did not watch contemporaneously, Keke Rosberg was the first F1 pilot that I became thoroughly enamored with. In an era of balls-out driving, his was the ballsiest. I've always supported drivers based on their on track exploits, which naturally led me to supporting Hamilton.

From the outset Caterham employed two of the least inspiring drivers the grid has seen in recent times. And once they resorted to pay drivers it only got worse.
 
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Totally agree. I hope nothing goes wrong with the cars because they don't have the people to fix them.
 
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