Tony Fernandes to take the helm of Malaysian-backed Lotus F1 Team only temporarily

Lotus F1 Car

Tony Fernandes announced to Reuters that his position as the Team Principal of the new Malaysian-backed Team Lotus will not be permanent.

Obviously he had something to do with initiating the project in the first place as his Air Asia and Tune Group will be providing funding for the team, but he only intends to be in the Team Principal position to make sure Team Lotus has the “right direction, the right imaging and the right future, the right strategic plan and marketing” before stepping down after a few initial races (perhaps after Melbourne) to make way for someone much more experienced.

The team principal would most likely be a non-Malaysian. Tony himself admits that it is a tall order right now to have a Malaysian team principal right away. Even Team A1 Malaysia is head by a “Mat Salleh”, Jack Cunningham. Even for the drivers, Tony thinks there is no need for a Malaysian line-up for now.

“My personal preference would be to try to get someone with lots of experience, though he may be ending his career, who can add a lot of experience and develop the car. The right personality that can transfer knowledge and enjoy working with people is critical. There’s no point throwing someone in at the deep end if he’s not ready,” he said.

This is actually the norm with F1 teams that are starting off – the pairing of drivers is usually a young driver and someone who has more experience under his belt, such as David Coulthard in Red Bull and Giancarlo Fisichella in Force India. The young driver in Team Lotus F1’s case can be a Malaysian (such as Fairuz Fauzy, a name that keeps popping up) and the other can be someone with experience. The official and confirmed line-up is expected to be announced by the end of October.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • P2_permanent_basher on Sep 22, 2009 at 5:20 am

    pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee fire that technical director, mike gascoye( whatever his name is spelt).

    He is just hopeless…

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  • Elvis on Sep 22, 2009 at 5:46 am

    Wat a waste of money…even China not wanting to have their own F1 team…Malaysia 'siok sendiri'…as usually….

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  • slayer on Sep 22, 2009 at 6:17 am

    Very quiet….everyone busy with hari raya

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  • kimi_ on Sep 22, 2009 at 6:29 am

    This will be a failure…..

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  • pulge on Sep 22, 2009 at 6:43 am

    Actually I don't really mind, as long as they don't drag Proton into it.. Any words from DSZ on this??

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  • Ferruccio on Sep 22, 2009 at 7:34 am

    Does make you wonder why he is not staying on for a season or 2 to ensure stability. Is he discovering 'pre-wedding jitters'? Again, it doesn't quite make sense.. just like the whole 1MF1 announcement.

    Tony is the driving force behind the whole controversial project. If I were to have faith that it will turn out well, I would put my money on Tony thinking he is the only one who knows how to make it happen. And so this does not inspire confidence. The whole thing is riding on him and his reputation coz no one else in Malaysia has a clue how to make it work. Very odd.

    Having said that he is right to say that whoever is selected to replace should be someone with experience, not necessarily Malaysian.

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  • Mazda 3 MPS on Sep 22, 2009 at 9:14 am

    why do we need a team?

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  • mystvearn on Sep 22, 2009 at 9:55 am

    No idea why we need one. And apparently are you sure fernandez not staying long because Najib wants to change this Lotus F1 into 1Malaysia F1? This is sure to make anyone fed up. Imagine your business becoming state owned.

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  • DMann on Sep 22, 2009 at 2:05 pm

    The way I look at this, it's pretty simple. No offense meant to anyone, but think about this right quick. On one hand we have a businessman who has so far shown that he has the Midas touch (Tony F.) and on the other hand we have government linked companies and the government itself trying to dabble in what is nowadays rightly nothing more than a marketing ploy. Let's face it, F1 is NOT a money making business. Somehow, why do I feel that this was originally a Malaysian government plan and Tony just got roped in simply because he saw this as an opportunity to market AirAsia on a grander scale than he is doing right now with WIlliams and nothing more?

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  • MycarMylife on Sep 22, 2009 at 5:03 pm

    See the story line , some one to start kick the gravy train , muster in the mulahs , then let loose the taps and voila! millons will vanish and nobody knows what happened and just stare in awe and then try to close the barn door after the horses have run.

    Selamat selamat hari raya and start your engines for the pride of your country.

    Wonder where is that guy sheik ?who started A1GP ?

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  • Elvis on Sep 22, 2009 at 8:15 pm

    All i see is how our leaders trying to launder stimulus money. This 1MF1 will definately cost RM1 billion or more. And to think that some states in Malaysia have terrible road conditions and their spent it on what? INTERNATIONAL BIG BOYS TOYS!!! I see the rational of Sepang F1, or Twin Towers or tolled roads but this one……LU PIKIR SENDIRI…

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  • najib on Sep 22, 2009 at 8:41 pm

    bodoh…mercedes n ferrari pon nak quit f1…malaysia nak join…bodoh nye najib…kata takde duit nak bagi bonus…tp f1 makan BILLIONS bole bikin…bodoh

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  • Quote from Tony F:

    "“My personal preference would be to try to get someone with lots of experience, though he may be ending his career, who can add a lot of experience and develop the car."

    I can smelled Datuk Jean T name here :-).

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  • korokmu on Sep 22, 2009 at 10:05 pm

    najib said,

    September 22, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

    bodoh…mercedes n ferrari pon nak quit f1…malaysia nak join…bodoh nye najib…kata takde duit nak bagi bonus…tp f1 makan BILLIONS bole bikin…bodoh

    ko lagi bodoh.. tak tahu ape-ape tapi komen macam tau je..

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  • anwar on Sep 22, 2009 at 10:48 pm

    ramai orang bodoh yang anggap pandai dan kata orang bodoh. samalah dulu masa buat putrajaya, sibok2 kata membazir dan nak lelong bila dapat kuasa. sekarang sibok2 nak duduk putrajaya. bodoh punya orang bodoh …

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  • kamilskaz on Sep 22, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    tu lah bangang nama.

    najib said,

    September 22, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

    "bodoh…mercedes n ferrari pon nak quit f1…malaysia nak join…bodoh nye najib…kata takde duit nak bagi bonus…tp f1 makan BILLIONS bole bikin…bodoh"

    tony punya duit suka hati dia lah.lain kali semak dulu sebelum menyemak macam lalang

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  • Elvis on Sep 23, 2009 at 3:24 am

    My goodness!!….what makes you think that Tony willingly spend his money on F1? Dont you guys know about PROXY…..nowadays, you can launder money using other people's name…hey, that was started during our old man time friends….

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  • Jumbsuck on Sep 23, 2009 at 4:25 pm

    "…Tony himself admits that it is a tall order right now to have a Malaysian team principal right away…"

    But how grand the achievement it would be to send angka-sawan to land on the sun for whatever cost.

    "…My personal preference would be to try to get someone with lots of experience, though he may be ending his career, who can add a lot of experience and develop the car…"

    Maybe some angka-sawan that is not afraid of the sun, like some Eskimo guy.

    "…The right personality that can transfer knowledge and enjoy working with people is critical…"

    Eskimo angka-sawan can teach even a mat rempit how to embrace easily the heat of the sun properly.

    "…There’s no point throwing someone in at the deep end if he’s not ready,…”

    The angka-sawan can always try to land on the sun during night time or best on winter.

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  • My dream team

    Principal : Jean Todt

    Technical Director : Adrian Newey

    Driver 1: Fernando Alonso

    Driver 2 : Fairuz Fauzy

    Adviser : Michael Schumacher

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  • JEAN TODT for 1Malay on Sep 23, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    JEAN TODT (former Ferrari F1 team champion legend with Michael Schumacher)… Jean Todt will be the new Team Principal of 1Malaysia F1 Team.. he already promise to help Malaysia to be a superpower in automotive industry.

    and hopefully Paul Tan can be the advisor.. hehe :P

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  • Backmarker on Sep 24, 2009 at 12:54 am

    Tony will milk dry everything in sight.

    This is seen as a money making project for Tony.

    He will oversee tenders and contracts and suppliers.

    After the 1M'sia team is up and running he will cabut

    cos by that time his piggy bank wld be extremely healthy.

    Tony proof that you are commited and sincere. Stay with this team

    thru thick & thin !!!

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  • InsaneClown (Member) on Sep 24, 2009 at 1:50 am

    Instead of spending money on developing an F1 team which we dont have any experience, why dont the govt spend it on a rally team & our msian drivers instead like Karamjit Singh? He's a former APRC champion & will definitely be able to guide our young drivers as well as share his useful knowledge.

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  • lets hope for the best & see what will happen!

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  • roti naan1 on Sep 24, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    I foresee a disaster will come. Money invested will be gone up in smoke.

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  • Najibest on Sep 24, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    so far what we know is that, the minimum budget for F1 would be around 40 million pounds per year excluding drivers fee. so far the investors named in the venture are Tony Fernandes (not airasia, it has been clearly stated that Tony's involvement in the team is purely personal, not related to airasia) and Naza. Assuming Proton would foot a maximum 1/2 of the bill…around 20 million pounds, that'll be around RM110 million per year…i doubt the other investors are willing to foot the other RM110 million per year for the venture

    even petronas sponsorship is around USD 20 million per year only and that was towards a big team with strong brand recognition…

    besides that, the team is contracted to use the cosworth engine for a few years (condition for entry) and they need to build a team from scratch, i wonder how much more money do they need. i mean they keep on comparing the malaysian team with force india, but that team actually started from the Jordan F1 team, to Midlands F1 to Spyker F1..millions have been poured by the previous owners so definitely it's not similar to the malaysian's team case…

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  • Diablo on Sep 25, 2009 at 2:40 am

    Further to najibest comment, Proton does not have the said amount to spend and so it will be the govt that will pump in the funds albeit via Proton

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  • Proton on Sep 25, 2009 at 11:00 pm

    why????

    *yawn*

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