Will Tony's lotus team become Proton for 2011?

[John S]

Lotus Racing may accept change of name for financial backing from Malaysia, according to The Norwich Advertiser. I wonder if the local media boys have got inside info about the name change, or are they just a guessing like the rest of us?  

Tony Fernandes’ Hingham-based Formula One team could be renamed Proton 1 Malaysia next season.

Reports have suggested the Malaysian car producer and owner of Norfolk marque Lotus is close to making an announcement connected with F1 – and a deal with Fernandes’ outfit, which was branded Lotus Racing in 2010, might be on the cards.

Such a move by Proton would, in turn, allow Group Lotus to confirm its £100m purchase of a 21pc stake in Renault’s F1 team, which would be renamed Lotus Renault on the 2011 grid.

It would see Lotus’ representation in F1 next year come from a team based near Oxfordshire – but one that finished fifth in this season’s constructors’ championship – while Fernandes’ team, also set to be powered by a Renault engine, will become a flagship Malaysian constructor hoping to build on tenth place in its first season.

The team’s home would most likely still remain at Hingham, where its GP2 companion – Team Air Asia – and long-term plans for a wind tunnel facility remain.

Both sides had ambitions to race in F1 next year under the Norfolk marque – a battle threatening to spill into the British courts after Fernandes bought the naming rights for Team Lotus from David Hunt in September.

Hethel-based Group Lotus took exception to that move, and they are aiming to clear a path to carry the Lotus name in F1 next season. A financial package from Proton for Fernandes’ team would ease the threat of them losing their slice of the 2010 F1 cash pie, which they may lose out on if the team changes its name.

by Michael Bailey, Norwichadvertiser24.co.uk, Nov 19.

[lkjohnson1950]

Why don't they just be honest and find their own names?

Lonny

[Williamsfan]

It really is a shame that such a legendary name is being dragged through the dirt like this.  Right now you have to say that neither team really deserves the name Lotus attached to their efforts.

[John S]

It really is a shame that such a legendary name is being dragged through the dirt like this.  Right now you have to say that neither team really deserves the name Lotus attached to their efforts.

Colin Chapman, although a genius designer and innovator, was just as big a hustler as our dear Mr Ecclestone. I rather think Colin would have enjoyed following the intrigue about the wheeling & dealing going on over the use of his racing marque.

 

[Williamsfan]

Maybe, but it was enough to have the Lotus team last year without a fight by two random parties to be named after the marque.  It is just a shame, but yeah, Colin was a hustler and I spoke to a guy who used to make parts of the Lotus cars back In the day who confirmed the same thing.  Sounded fun and mad working with him in those days!