Lotus Renault

I knew Carrol since I was a freshman in college and I've never seen or heard of him with an Allard. Not to say that he didn't. I think it more likely that he was influenced by the Corvette powered Austin Healey 100s of that era and some of Delmo Johnson's hot rod's. BTW, the stock Cobras were evil handling brutes and had lousy brakes. The 260 CI engined ones were the only ones I could stand to drive.
 
You would have to think Heikki is a better longer term bet for Lotus as well as Jarno is hardly in his first flush of youth and, of course, there were all sorts of stories about him going to the US last year when Toyota folded so you have to wonder if his heart is really in it.

Problem for Lotus may be the contracts. Weren't both drivers on 3 year deals? Perhaps Renault will pay one of them off or they could take up a test driver role. I think that would suit Trulli quite well given where he is in his career and would allow him to race in other series.
 
Sounds reasonably FB. Their contracts can't be worth a whole lot even over 3 years, Renault might well pay up to keep Petrov in a works team, and get a new driver in to partner Kubica. I wonder who that driver will be? My best guess would maybe see Sutill moving from FI?

Heikki is definitely the logical person to keep.
 
I think any contractual situation between Lotus / Trulli / Kovi / Petrov / Cosworth and Renault could easily be resolved by the crossing of palms with silver.

One of the quickest ways for Lotus to find a good few 10ths would be to change engine supplier but having said that, Williams seem to have found a chassis to work with the Cossy so the engine can't be all that bad.

I posted a while back that although signing Trulli and Kovi was a great move for the team given that it was easily the strongest driver pairing of the three new teams, the fact that they were signed to 3 year deals (especially in Trullis' case) was perhaps not the best of moves. I'm pretty sure however, that neither of them would have signed for a single year or year with an option knowing that it was unlikely that either of them would find a drive afterwards.

I can't wait to see how the team moves forward from this season and weather or not they can challenge for points consistantly next year. At the moment it is looking quite good for them.
 
Brogan said:
We were talking about Williams on the other thread.
They have a 3 year contract so I can't see them or Lotus being able to switch for at least another 2 years.
Click to expand
Well in which case, what would be the point of changing? By then it might well be 'all change' anyway for everyone, given that the powers that be are talking about 1.6 litre turbo engines with KERS for 2013. Who's to say that a Cosworth version of one of those (if they build one) wouldn't be just as good as a Renault one?
 
I would guess that Jarno Trulli's DNF on Sunday with gearbox problems has allowed Lotus to invoke a performance/reliability clause in their contract and this is the true reason for Cosworth agreeing to end the contract.Lotus have been plagued by gearbox and hydraulic issues all season and this was the final straw.
Most commercial contracts have a performance clause included in them and Lotus and Cosworth agreed to end the contract without litigation.

"Cosworth has announced that it has reached an agreement to end its current engine supply deal with the Lotus team.

The move paves the way for Lotus to sign a deal with Renault, with whom the team has reached an agreement in principle for a supply of engines, gearboxes and transmissions, as revealed by AUTOSPORT earlier this week.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86677
 
That's fantastic news and a real step in the right direction for Lotus.

Now I wonder if it's too much to ask, as fantastic as the livery has been on this years cars, that next year we see them roll out proudly in Black and Gold.

Go on pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease !!!!!
 
This could prove to be an interesting development.With the car effectively using Red Bull engine/drivetrain combination that could well prove to make a considerable improvement to Lotus Racings chronic hydraulic issues that they have suffered this year.
Fenandes might be the mouthpiece.It his money after all.But the man running the the show is Mike Gascoyne.
He has a great deal of F1 experience.Both some very good.And some very bad.


"Lotus Racing has confirmed that it will use Red Bull Technology gearboxes and hydraulic systems from the 2011 season.

The news follows on from the announcement that the team has ended its relationship with Cosworth. Lotus had used Xtrac gearboxes and hydraulics during its debut season in 2010.

Lotus is expected to make two further announcements this week, one of them expected to be a new deal to use Renault engines from next season.

The move would mean Lotus would use the same engine/gearbox combination as Red Bull Racing.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/87198
 
I think this is a great deal for Lotus; on reflection of looking at how great the improvements Force India made once they partnered with McLaren, would it be a great policy for the more senior teams to 'adopt' one of the other teams and give them support to move up the grid; it would be for the benefit of the sport as a whole to see Hispania, Virgin etc getting a leg up and a helping hand for their first 2 or 3 years to get off the ground before they go it alone.
 
There seems to be an interesting twist in the tale for Lotus. I spotted this on the BBC live feed earlier:

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Sao Paulo: "Lotus have finally announced they will use Renault engines next year, which has been an open secret for months. However, it is looking increasingly likely that the team will be forced to change its name as a result of the row over the rights to the use of the Lotus name. Renault's news release refers to the "1Malaysia Racing Team", not Lotus, and the team's does not mention the word Lotus. There are strong rumours here that, actually, Lotus Cars owner Proton will buy into the Renault team and that they will be re-named Lotus-Renault in 2011."
Click to expand

So the current Lotus team will become 1MRT and Renault will become Lotus but both teams will be sharing the same engine?

:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
F1Yorkshire said:
There seems to be an interesting twist in the tale for Lotus. I spotted this on the BBC live feed earlier:

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Sao Paulo: "Lotus have finally announced they will use Renault engines next year, which has been an open secret for months. However, it is looking increasingly likely that the team will be forced to change its name as a result of the row over the rights to the use of the Lotus name. Renault's news release refers to the "1Malaysia Racing Team", not Lotus, and the team's does not mention the word Lotus. There are strong rumours here that, actually, Lotus Cars owner Proton will buy into the Renault team and that they will be re-named Lotus-Renault in 2011."
Click to expand

So the current Lotus team will become 1MRT and Renault will become Lotus but both teams will be sharing the same engine?

:confused: :confused: :confused:
Click to expand

Brogan, how is that going to look on your tables?
 

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