Tony Fernandes tweeted the above message yesterday, confirming that Lotus F1 has signed on their first driver. He did not mention who the driver is. Our very own Fairuz Fauzy who has been linked with the team ever since it was given the green light to race in 2010 will serve as a reserve/third driver. Former Toyota driver Jarno Trulli was also rumored to join the team although there is no substantial information to back this up. Recently another driver was linked to the team: Kamui Kobayashi, also from Toyota. It looks like Malaysia’s seemingly unconditional love for Toyota (we buy Toyota and Toyota-linked Perodua cars in droves) even extend to our F1 team driver line-up! 
We eagerly await an official announcement from the F1 team.
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. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
oh..
Will it be Jarno Trulli??…he's an experienced driver though..
I much prefer Kamui Kobayashi..
i prefer Kaki Furai.
He likes to keep everyone in suspense doesn't he
I m in for Kobayashi!!!
Kamui Kobayashi is talented!
ha ha ha..
we do love toyota…
.
Kamui Kobayashi 4 sure
Exactly, keep on dreaming fools….
kamui kobayashi!!!!!
most probably Jarno… Najib will announce the line-up after the team secure their 2nd driver…
Lotus F1 main purpose is to promote 1 Malaysia…………..
Now they seems to promote Toyota instead..,,
i hope lotus F1 sign takeru kobayashi the hotdog eater champion. rather than kamui kobayashi who i think lacks experience.
good move hiring kobayashi
Kobayashimay be able to bring in more Jap sponsors and what's more maybe cheaper salary.
toyota should be replaced with perodua…yeah perodua F1 team..
perodua is good with down-grading "engineering".
save more money maa…
they use ex-toyota F1 driver only maa
not that they use any toyota tech
mr.tony fernandez is the guy who can turn 1 ringgit into 100 ringgit in a month.
1MF1T or LotusF1 or whatever the name is going to be the most profitable F1 team maa, very soon.
wow, our PM would be the 1 announcing the drivers for a supposedly private F1 team…….
kamui kobayashi!!!!!
gogogo!!!
in 10 ventures, you only hit 1 jackpot.. so, i'm not sure this time Tony will hit another jackpot… unless he do not promotes other ventures…:)
it is gonna be a no frills-F1 team, driver brings his own safety helmet, suit… everything…
mercedes takes over brawn. finally some good news for f1, from comercial and popularity perspective.
ngan,
That sums it up. The driver have to pay RM 15 in every pit stop for the drinks, add another 5 ringgit to clean up their pee. To get to the front grid, the driver pay extra (express boarding or whatever). Carry extra fuel, also pay extra hahah.
Dont forget the team will have to stay at Tune Hotel LCCT instead of Mandarin Oriental/Westin when they come to town.
They have signed up Fairuz, but I think he will be the reserve driver. It was signed at an extraordinary location.
Extraordinary location??? Do tell
Richard Branson style would be ON TOP of a hot air balloon.. not in the passenger basket
Hod Dog Gozilla owned Toyota midget !
Kamui Kobayashi!!
my vote goes to Kamui Kobayashi!!
velentino rossi………..
tengku djan..?
Tengku Djan only knows how to drift, lah.
he was seen sitting with narain karthikayen yesterday at an event in putrajaya
Though not suitable to drive in F1, Tengku Djan knows a lot more than just how to drift. As a race driver he is very quick behind the wheel in sportscar racing. Arguably the quickest Malaysian behind the wheel of a Lotus sportscar.
More than that he is an experienced chassis engineer. He worked for Porsche in Germany before moving to Lotus in the UK, moved to KL under Lotus then started Proton's R3 division. He is well experienced as a race driver, race engineer and race team manager. Lotus F1 should recruit him to play an important role. This guy knows his stuff.
I sincerely hope Malaysian F1 will finish top 10, let alone get a podium. Its the taxpayers money you are spending. Please don't let the nation down and don't become a laughing stock of the paddock and the racing world.
God bless You, Good Luck.
perabih duit…toyota, honda pull out from competition…kita terhegeh-hegeh nak masuk…
It is not realistic to expect them to finish races in top10 in their first year. This applies to all the new teams. The best this team can aim for is to beat the new teams. They can then aim for better finishes and of course top 10 in subsequent seasons. It takes several years to be successful in F1. I would be happy if the results keep on improving from one season to the next.
At the moment for now at least it doesn't look like they are using taxpayers money
The amount of money it takes to just participate in F1 is huge. Since they are already commited so they can;t back out now. Avoid THE jambatan bengkok tragedy- the amount it takes not finishing the jambatan was more than the amount to just continue the project. Be focus on your goal and avoid mixing it with politics.
I prefer Nick Heidfield
We all know Jacques Villeneuve would likely be one of the two drivers. He was visiting the Lotus factory yesterday.
well i recommend a driver like villeneuve or trulli maybe even raikkonen although he maybe more demanding but still he's worth the price.but kobayashi i'm not so certain because just think about it so far i've never seen any really talented japanese driver's no offence but japanese drivers are not that experienced in this field compared to some other drivers so i guess they should get a more experienced