Monthly Archives: September 2010

The fight over the use of the Lotus name in F1 stepped up a gear when Lotus Racing brought former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir into the dispute.

Mahathir ran the country from 1981-2003 and was very much behind the birth of the Malaysian GP. He’s also been a keen supporter of Lotus Racing. Still a big player in the country, he is now closely associated with Proton.

A statement from the team today said: “In a bid to alleviate the public confusion surrounding the ongoing matter between Lotus Racing and Proton/Group Lotus, Lotus Racing shareholder and Deputy Team Principal Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun recently had the opportunity to meet Proton Adviser Tun Dr Mahathir. The meeting was to discuss the matter in person and agree a future course of action for Lotus Racing.

“Lotus Racing believes it is acting within its own rights, and as a result of this meeting, the team will now refrain from making any further comments on the matter. This action is upon advice from Tun Dr Mahathir, and it is out of our respect for him that we will act upon his wishes as he has supported us since our inception, and his backing has been invaluable in our growth.

“We are very grateful for having had the opportunity to put forth our case and have complete trust that a fair review will be made, and a decision on the matter will be announced in due course.”

Reading between the lines it sounds like Mathathir is siding with the team rather than Dany Bahar and co…

The Spygate case reared its ugly head again today when Nigel Stepney’s legal case came to a conclusion in Sassuolo, some three years after the controversial events of 2007.

According to the local paper, the Gazzetta di Modena, Stepney received a 20-month sentence and €600 fine after being found guilty of “sabotage, espionage, sporting fraud and attempted serious injury.” The latter related to the matter of the infamous white powder which in theory – had it caused Kimi Raikkonen’s engine to seize – could have caused an accident…

The sentence was reduced by a plea bargain with prosecutor Giuseppe Tibis. However it seems that the way Italian law works, Stepney won’t actually serve any jail time.

Lawyers from both Stepney and Ferrari expressed satisfaction with the verdict.

Mike Gascoyne has agreed to stay with Lotus Racing/Team Lotus until at least the end of 2015.

The news does not come as a huge surprise, but clearly signals that he is happy with current arrangements. Gascoyne also says that it will be the last team he works for.

“Having started the team from scratch with Tony it was always my intention to finish my career here, so it’s great to have formally agreed a five year deal,” he said in a team statement. “I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to Tony, Din, Nasa, Riad and the whole team, and I’m extremely grateful to everyone involved in Lotus Racing for having the confidence to take this into a long-term contract. We’ve had a great start to our partnership together, and I’m looking forward to continuing that for the next five years, and even beyond that.”

Team Principal Tony Fernandes added: “Mike’s five year deal is a major announcement for the whole Lotus Racing team. It shows just how serious we are, not only about how far ahead we are setting our aspirations, but also as a reward to Mike for the incredibly hard work he and the team have already put in to get us from literally four people back in September ’09 to our current position as a serious F1 player with a very bright future ahead of us. On a personal level, I’ve really enjoyed the last year that we’ve been working together, and I’m very excited about working with Mike for many years to come.”

Group Lotus sent out another message today, but while it was clearly aimed at reinforcing the car company’s claim to the motor sport heritage of the Lotus name, the timing was as much do with the Paris Motor Show as the escalating fight with Tony Fernandes and Lotus Racing.

Among the highlights of its 2011 plans Lotus has confirmed that it will expand to a two-car effort in the IRL next year, and will be moving into LMP2. It has given some intriguing details on the upgrading work at the Hethel test track, which it says will be FIA standard and good enough for “GT racing and F1 testing.” Although historically F1 cars have run at Hethel it never had proper safety facilities and was only really useful for shakedowns.

And in addition to the plans outlined today, we are told “there is lots more to come.”

I wouldn’t normally reproduce in full a press release about GTs and driving academies and the like, but given the current dispute, this one is worth a look. There seems to be a lot going on between the lines…

This is what the company has to say: Clark, Senna, Andretti, Moss, Mansell, Hill, Fittipaldi, F1, IndyCar, Le Mans. Lotus and motorsport go together like fish and chips and jelly and ice-cream.

With a pedigree like ours it should come as no surprise that we announce a new 360° race program, a statement of intent including: multiple race series, grassroots driver development and Exos – the ultimate in exclusive driving experiences.

Lotus Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro summed it up perfectly when he said: “Lotus is motorsport and racing is in our DNA. We have a special place in motorsport history and now as we unveil the beginning of our future plans it’s important for people to realise just how committed we are to doing our heritage justice. There is no better platform to demonstrate the transfer of technology from track to road car than a full range of pure motorsport activity, we have to tick all the boxes.”

“As with our new product line up set to be unveiled in just a few days time at the Paris Motor Show we are entering a new era for Lotus Motorsport – there’s lots more to come and trust me, there will be something to please every motorsport enthusiast, from the committed fan to the Senna of the future.”

So what exactly are we talking about? There’s a lot to take in and we’ve got the Paris Motor Show around the corner so let’s keep it top line:

IndyCar: The 2011 IndyCar season will see Lotus continue to work with KV Racing Technology providing further technical and engineering support, fielding a minimum of two cars on the grid. We’ll also commence development on new body work and chassis – in line with the new regulation scheduled for implementation in 2012.

GP2 and GP3: In collaboration with seasoned championship winners ART Grand Prix, we have now confirmed our participation in the 2011 GP2 (Europe and Asia series) and GP3 series. The contract with ART Grand Prix sees us commit to providing technical and engineering support for the GP2 and GP3 race series for a minimum of three years.

Evora GT4: So an update on our Evora GT4 development. We’ve made the decision to develop the car to be eligible in GT2 and GT3 categories. And on top of this news, a total of 20 orders have been received for the GT4 since it’s launch in Pebble Beach, the first lucky customer should be receiving his car at the end of October.

GT2: More exciting news – we are currently developing a new GT2 car based on one of our eagerly anticipated future road cars, set to be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. The new GT2 car will be in line with the new regulations.

LMP2: This very special project is under the expert direction of technical genius Paolo Catone. The car is being developed to meet new ACO rules, it will have a closed cockpit and is due to be on-track late 2011, with an assault on the 24 Hr Le Mans planned for 2012.

Lotus Driving Academy (LDA): Reconfirming our dedication to grassroots motorsport activity there is a planned global roll out of the popular LDA. Set to start early in 2011, the roll out will begin with the redevelopment of the existing concept and facilities in Hethel followed by plans for two new locations to come on line, one in the UAE and one in Eastern Europe. We’ll follow this with the addition of two more sites, one in the mid USA and one in Japan in 2012. Further expansion in 2013 will see sites in Moscow, Malaysia and a second Academy in the US operational. In addition to developing grassroots talent the LDA provides the perfect facilities for individual driving courses and for Lotus customers to test drive product.

Lotus Cup: We are pleased to confirm plans to expand and reorganise our factory owned championship programme in key territories including Europe, Japan, USA and the UAE including a re-branding exercise to harmonise corporate identity across the globe. All series will continue to enjoy support from Lotus Motorsport, based at the Company’s HQ in Hethel. The Lotus Cup series allows Lotus drivers around the world the opportunity to put their production type cars to the test in a competitive race environment.

Type 125 and the Exos Experience: Phenomenal interest followed the official unveiling last month at Pebble Beach. The first 10 cars have now been provisionally allocated to buyers. Testing is due to start before Christmas, with further extensive hot weather testing in early 2011. The first cars are scheduled to be delivered in April with the first Exos club event earmarked for May 2011.

Not too sure what Exos and the 125 is? Read on…..Exos is a club in which a limited number of owner drivers can refine their driving skills and challenge themselves in Formula 1™ inspired technology combined with expert one-to-one advice from former Grand Prix drivers and trainers. The Lotus 125 is an F1™ inspired race-car complete with Cosworth V8 engine, is an innovative program to energize the Lotus spirit, to challenge convention and allow the customer experience something unique and inspirational.

The New Lotus Test Track: Great progress is currently being made on our new FIA regulation test track. Located next to the Lotus factory in Hethel, Norfolk, the new track boasts 12 pitlane garages capable of hosting 24 cars and will comply with all current FIA safety regulations. With a length of 3.6 kilometres and width of 12 metres the track will be ideal for customer experiences, GT racing and F1 testing.

So, you must be wondering, why pick now to increase our interest in motorsport? Really the question shouldn’t be why we have now upped our motorsport participation, for a brand with such a unique and extensive racing history, the question should really be: why not?

Branson expects extra outside sponsorship next year

Richard Branson appeared in Singapore and insisted that he’s still fully behind the F1 team that bears the Virgin name, despite its difficult baptism this year.

Asked by this blog how hard it had been to go from regularly celebrating wins under the podium with Brawn to being at the back of the field, he denied that it had been a challenge for him.

“It actually hasn’t been hard at all,” he said. “It’s great fun. As I said at the beginning of the season we knew we were going to be the underdogs, we went into it with our eyes open. And it’s fun building a new team from scratch. There are quite a lot of other people who’d love to be able to get new teams in who have been turned down. The team are delivering what they promised on reliability and so on. The amount of money that this team is spending is £15m less than Lotus – maybe £20m less – so to be almost matching them car for car is great. And the reliability has been better.

“I would have had to have been a little bit foolish to assume that we were going to have a new team and we were going to start winning in F1. It takes a number of years to build a new team from scratch. It’s been fun. I’ve actually had just as much fun watching if we could beat Lotus – I think it’s just about as much fun!”

Branson insisted that his company was getting a good return on its investment in terms of exposure.

“We didn’t spend much money last year, and we haven’t spent a lot of money last year. The Virgin brand is strong, and it attracts other sponsors and people want to be involved with the Virgin cars, so it’s worked well for us both years. Obviously the coverage was more when you’re winning, but we were just ridiculously lucky last year. You don’t get many of those in a life time.

“The gap is closing. We’re not far behind the two old teams that are just above us now in speed. So we’re certainly getting closer. We’ll see what happens next year.”

Branson said that his own branding might be less overt next season, but only if the space is required by other sponsors.

“These guys seem to be doing quite well on the sponsorship for next year, and if they do that then more space will be taken up by outside sponsors, but that’s a positive thing. We obviously hope to keep Virgin on the back of the car. But ultimately it’s up to these guys, how many sponsors they get. I would very much hope it continues to be known as the Virgin Racing team.”

He also played down the importance of 10^th place in the World Championship, and the extra funding associated with it.

“Nobody’s expecting it or budgeting for it, and even if you got the 10^th place you wouldn’t get the money for another couple of years. You’ve got to have 10^th place over two seasons in order to get that money. We’d certainly like a lot of rain [in the coming races] because it gives us a lot better chance of getting it!”

Last night – while this blog was on a plane from Singapore! – the future Team Lotus outfit  reacted to the attempt from Group Lotus to sabotage its use of the name in 2011.

Tony Fernandes and his partners have reiterated that their purchase of the Team Lotus name from David Hunt is legitimate, and they intend to prove that in the English courts.

Tellingly, the team says that when it did its license deal with Group Lotus the latter made it clear that it didn’t own the Team Lotus name – contrary to what it is saying now – and reaffirmed that the team would have to run as Lotus Racing. The interesting thing of course is that the Group Lotus management has changed between then and now, with Dany Bahar and his associates coming in.

Lotus Racing also says that there “will have to be discussions” with Group Lotus and Proton about the termination of its license, and the team clearly believes that the car company did not have grounds to end the deal.

The team summed up its position in a statement from Lotus Racing CEO, Riad Asmat: “This has been an incredible year for everyone associated with Lotus Racing. Last week we brought Team Lotus back to the Formula One grid when we announced that we had bought Team Lotus Ventures from David Hunt, and would be racing as the successor to one of the most iconic names in world motorsport.

“This year, we have established ourselves as the leading new team in Formula One as a licensee of Group Lotus, and, although we all dreamt of bringing Team Lotus back to where it belongs, we could not do so in 2010 because those rights were owned by Team Lotus Ventures. As Tune Group has now bought Team Lotus Ventures it means we can now use the Team Lotus name for 2011 and beyond. We are all delighted we can go into 2011 with total confidence in what we own, and what we can take to the track.

“However, given that this is contested by Group Lotus we think now is the time to clear this matter up so there can be no further arguments. We have therefore today issued proceedings in the English High Court for a declaration that Team Lotus Ventures has the rights to use the Team Lotus name and everything associated with that brand in relation to Formula One.

 “Racing under the Team Lotus name from 2011 means our licence with Group Lotus has now come to an end. In reality, this has nothing to do with how we will go racing in 2011, as the ownership of Team Lotus has been clearly defined for many years. David was approached a number of times about selling the rights of Team Lotus Ventures, including one official offer of from Proton/Group Lotus themselves. That must have been tempting for David, as the rightful owner of the Team Lotus brand and its rights. Oddly enough, Group Lotus also recently tried to revoke the Team Lotus trade marks at a hearing at the Trade Mark Registry, but they were unsuccessful. I suspect David’s misgivings about their previous offer to buy were justified by that action.

“The licence debate really is a non-issue. It was a simple licence, attached to a one year sponsorship deal with Proton for 2010 alone, and in fact for a tiny proportion of the amount invested by the shareholders into the team – approximately 1.5% of the total budget. Unfortunately we never reached the point where we discussed extending that one year deal.

“When we signed our licence to compete as Lotus Racing with Group Lotus, they were very clear that we could not make any reference to Team Lotus as they had no rights at all to the Team Lotus name or its rights. In fact, in the licence agreement between 1Malaysia Racing and Group Lotus the use of the Team Lotus name is expressly prohibited as they had agreed contractually, as long ago as 1985, that they had not rights to use that name. That was obviously something we had enormous respect for, and made no attempt to change until we could do so rightfully, and with a very clear understanding of what we had acquired in Team Lotus Ventures.

“So now the licence we ran under this year has been withdrawn by Group Lotus, and while we accept that this obviously means we have reached the end of that chapter, it opens up a new and very exciting one for everyone in our team. There will have to be some discussions with Proton and Group Lotus about the entitlement to terminate the licence. Frankly, they are trying to say that some very trivial points, including t-shirt design approvals of all things, gave them the right to terminate, but we thoroughly reject this.

“Now we look to the future. The details of what has been going on behind the scenes are now coming to light, and that’s good because it means the shareholders of Proton, the government, will now know the truth of what has been going on. However the important thing is to look at what we are doing to guarantee future success. We have already invested heavily in ensuring the Malaysian /ASEAN motorsports platform grows, something that cannot be said for our colleagues at Group Lotus.

“We created a world first when we ran Nabil Jeffri in our aero test earlier this year – the youngest ever F1 test driver. Fairuz has been gaining invaluable experience at the highest level by driving for us, and, through Tony and Din’s AirAsia Driver Development programme, we are giving young Malaysian/ASEAN talent the chance to reach the top. We are so proud to have laid the foundations for future success, and our fans acknowledge this every day.

“Personally I think it’s odd that our colleagues at Group Lotus have not embraced what we are giving them – a global platform for creating huge awareness and great value for their operations, all at no cost to them. In one year we have made huge strides in the growth of Lotus Racing, and now it’s all about Team Lotus.” 

We await the next chapter with interest…

Have the plans of Tony Fernandes just gone up in smoke?

As predicted a few days ago in this blog – and fully explained in my feature on www.autosport.com – Group Lotus has launched an all out attack on Tony Fernandes, and claims that he has no right to use the Team Lotus name in 2011.

Fernandes had a licence from Group Lotus to use the name in 2010, but that was withdrawn by new boss Dany Bahar, who has F1 ambitions of his own. Fernandes has now bought the Team Lotus  name from David Hunt. However, Group Lotus claims that it owns that name as well.

Today Group Lotus issued the following statement which makes its intentions clear:

 There is and always has been only one Lotus, the Lotus started by Colin Chapman. From the beginning Lotus made road cars and raced racing cars. Until 1994, Group Lotus, the road car manufacturer and Team Lotus, which operated the Formula 1 team, were in common ownership with common directors. In 1994, Team Lotus failed and Lotus has not raced since. Since 1994, David Hunt has claimed to have acquired assets of Team Lotus, including its name, from the liquidator. He has never raced as Lotus. Mr. Hunt’s attempt to acquire the name Team Lotus was ineffective. Group Lotus is the owner of all rights in the “Lotus” automotive brand including those relating to Formula 1.

Last year, Tony Fernandes and 1 Malaysia Racing Team recognised this by taking a licence from Group Lotus to use the “Lotus” brand for the “Lotus Racing” team in the current Formula 1 season. With PROTON’s agreement, Group Lotus has now terminated its licence to 1 Malaysia Racing Team to use the “Lotus Racing” brand in the 2011 and future Formula 1 seasons as a result of the flagrant and persistent breaches of the licence by 1 Malaysia Racing Team, which were damaging to the “Lotus” brand.

Following that termination, neither 1 Malaysia Racing Team, nor any other company associated with Mr. Fernandes such as Tune Group Sdn Bhd or Team Lotus Ventures Limited, has the authority of Group Lotus to use any “Lotus” brand in the 2011 Formula 1 season. This includes the use of the brand “Team Lotus”.

Group Lotus understands that Mr. Fernandes intends to rebrand the current “Lotus Racing” Formula 1 team to “Team Lotus” for the 2011 Formula 1 season. Mr. Fernandes indicates that Tune Group has acquired the rights to the name “Team Lotus” from a business formerly owned by David Hunt called Team Lotus Ventures Limited. Group Lotus believes these rights to have no proper legal foundation, a fact of which Mr. Fernandes was well aware when his company purchased them.

PROTON will support Group Lotus in taking all necessary steps to protect its rights in the “Lotus” name, including resisting any attempts by Mr. Fernandes or his companies, or any other unauthorised person, to use the “Lotus” name in the 2011 Formula 1 season.

Dato’ Sri Mohd. Nadzmi Mohd. Salleh, Chairman of PROTON Holdings Berhad and Group Lotus commented, “We believe the Lotus brand to be one of the most valuable brands in Formula 1 today. We are the owners of this brand, and will take all necessary steps to protect it. Tony Fernandes has no rights to use the Lotus brand in the 2011 Formula 1 season, and we will strongly resist any attempts by him to use our brand without our permission and will withdraw our sponsorship of the Lotus Racing team.”

“To put it simply, Group Lotus is everything Lotus. The fact that 1 Malaysia Racing Team entered into an agreement with Group Lotus to use the brand means that both Mr. Fernandes and 1 Malaysia Racing Team recognises and acknowledges Group Lotus’ rights,” he added.

Pirelli has formally confirmed that Pedro de la Rosa will join the company as test driver, replacing Nick Heidfeld.

The news originally came out last week via a speech from the company boss, much to the surprise of the Spanish driver, who had only just been dropped by Sauber and had not yet completed his contractual arrangements. That process has now been finalised.

“I’m really pleased to be joining Pirelli,” said de la Rosa in a statement. “Tyre testing is something that I have always enjoyed as it is a very big challenge, especially in Formula One. The information you can get from telemetry and sensors is valuable, but nothing replaces the individual feeling of a driver with new tyres so I hope I can be a real asset to Pirelli.

“There’s not a lot of time left and a huge amount of work to do, but I’m very much looking forward to it and I am sure that our collaboration will be a success. A lot of useful work has been done already and now we have the opportunity of taking it forward.”

 Pirelli says that last week’s test at Monza with Romain Grosjan concentrated on defining the construction tyres, with the Frenchman running 30-40 lap stints.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery said: “Romain jumped in to do some durability testing and did an excellent job. The objective of this test was to confirm the structural specification of the tyres we will use for the first time at the test in Abu Dhabi, and we now move on to working on our rain tyres and compound definition.

“Moving forwards, we will also be joined by Pedro de la Rosa, who has the benefit of having the most recent Formula One experience and is a renowned tester. So far, everything has gone according to plan and we’re pleased to report that we are only about a second per lap off the times of our predecessors, which is a great achievement.”

The F1 world continues to wait for news on the Korean GP after Bernie Ecclestone for the first time suggested that that there were doubts over the race.

It would not be unusual to assume that Bernie was sending a message in his typically mischievous way, but considering that the Korean promoter was present in Singapore, he didn’t have to use the media to get it across. The uncertainty his comments have created has not helped anyone.

Most sources continue to suggest that we will go there come what may, although someone close to the action told me at the weekend that it was now 50:50.

Charlie Whiting was due to inspect the track tomorrow, but decided there was no point for the rather fundamental reason that the top surface has not yet been completed. He is instead heading home, and will now go to Korea on the Monday after the Japanese GP. Thus what the FIA’s own rules dictate should have been a 90-day inspection will be held some 10 days prior to the start of the meeting.

And at that stage of course things start to become difficult, because the F1 freight will already be starting its journey from Suzuka, and while many team personnel are due to come home between races, some are scheduled to travel straight to Korea. A cancellation at that late stage will not exactly be convenient for anyone.

Meanwhile the teams are increasingly frustrated in their dealings with the venue, specifically with regard to the unfinished hospitality buildings, and the huge fees that they are being charged to rent them for the weekend.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domencali says his team has to keep its collective feet on the ground, despite scoring two consecutive wins.

Fernando Alonso has crept up the World Championship table over the past five races, but Domenicali insists that it’s impossible to predict how things will play out.

“It was good that we won this race because in terms of the points for the driver’s classification we did a step forward, this is what we wanted,” said Domenicali. “And now with four races to go the situation regarding the championship is very, very open. It’s a shame that yesterday we lost the second car and Felipe started from the last position, with the problem with the gearbox it was impossible to do better than what he did. He tried to do a strategy stopping on the first lap, and seeing if the safety car could reshuffle the cars, but unfortunately it came at the wrong moment for that strategy.

“I would say generally speaking it was a great result, a great performance. It’s good to see that the team is still focussed and concentrated, because we know that we have done nothing apart from winning a couple of races. But the championship is very far from the end.”

Domenicali didn’t want to make too many predictions about form in Japan and beyond, and stressed that from now on, it’s a mental game.

“I don’t know. Our competitors are so strong, it’s better to wait and see. For sure for us it’s important, and I said to my guys, to work very hard on reliability. We paid a big price this weekend as a team. The car seems to be better in terms of general performance, also on this kind of track. We will have some little updates, nothing major, but now I think a lot will be in the head of the drivers, in the heads of the people who have to work, and the reliability, rather than an incredible improvement in performance.

“We know that all the teams now are in a period where they have to switch to put all the resources into the new car, otherwise they will be very late in the end. I think it will be a very interesting end to the season for sure.”