The battle for over the use of the Lotus name in F1 is now set to go to trial in London on March 21.
That is eight days after the Bahrain GP, which means that Team Lotus will definitely start the season with its intended name – but one presumes may subsequently lose the right to use it.
Today was supposed to be Round One in the contest, with a summary judgement concerning last year’s termination by Group Lotus of the agreement that had allowed Lotus Racing to use the name.
A more complex action over the right to use the Team Lotus name – sold to Tony Fernandes and co by David Hunt – was due to start later in the year.
However it appears that today Mr Justice Peter Smith decided to lump the actions together.
The March 21 date is also likely to cause logistical problems for some of the key players who are due to travel to the Australian GP that week.
Smith incidentally was himself born in Malaysia, when his father was posted there. He is best known in legal circles for his involvement in a copyright case involving the origins of the novel The Da Vinci Code. He caused some controversy by hiding a coded message of his own in his judgement.
Adam Cooper F1 