Lotus Racing fared the best among the rookie teams in yesterday’s Bahrain GP, with both Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli classified as finishers (15th and 17th). In contrast, the two Virgin and two HRT cars retired, so the team’s stated mission is firmly on track.
Team Principal Tony Fernandes was delighted at the result. “I’m completely over the moon! I cannot describe the feeling. Six months of work and to have both cars finish is just unbelievable. We’re thrilled, we’re happy and the spirit in the team is fantastic. I’m really proud of Jarno and of Heikki and everyone here. It’s a great start and better than I could have dreamt of. We wanted to finish the race and to do so ahead of established teams is fantastic.
“From here we keep going. Before the race Clive Chapman gave me Colin Chapman’s old Lotus cap and said ‘when you win the first race you’ll be the man to throw this up in the air like my Dad used to.’ That meant a lot to me, it was a wonderful gesture and it’s like handing over the mantle of one of motor racing’s great dynasties”
Tech chief Mike Gascoyne was also contented. “I have to say thank you to both drivers. They drove great races – Jarno struggled early on but when he changed to the soft tyre he was much more competitive. Apologies to Heikki because he may have suffered from the strategy, and apologies to Jarno because he had a hydraulics problem and he had to slow down to get the car to the finish, but overall a great result.”
The Lotus Racing pit box and hospitality area saw former stars Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell dropping by. Perhaps they were drawn in by the fragrance of the nasi lemak served by the Malaysian owned team!
Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.
the two rival. air asia and virgin airlines….
nasi lemak 1malaysia??? must be delicious over there since rice is quite rare at some place…
I AM PROUD.
aim for no 1.. bravo
hmm…pathethic?
So Tony when are we gonna see Richard Branson in AirAsia stewardess uniform then? I suppose after the F1 season is over right?
I saw on TV that there was a young British girl removing the front right hand side tyre blankets. In racing this would mean that she is a mechanic too. If a young girl could do it, why can't an experienced Malaysian single seater mechanic be given the opportunity as part of the '1 Malaysia' ness of this team??
dont u guys know that tony and richard branson bet with each other..if virgin lose by the end of the season, richard must work on any air asia long haul flight as a cabin crew..if lotus lose tony also my work on virgin plane as a cabin crew. i dunno whether they'r serious or not..
pomen,
yeap.. unlike in msia where there'r several type of rice tht we can get here.
Thats a great start for 1Malaysia Lotus team!!
congrats to the team for being able to finish the race…please make this a first step towards great achievement in the future..
finishing the race is definitely an achievement. lets not take anything from that. not only the team got invaluable information, by finishing the race the team is capable of getting a car which proved to be reliable. at least for bahrain.
now, get to another level. finishing the race AND score some points.
walauwei….. Nasik lemak 1Malaysia in Bahrin….. hohoho…
apehal smua ternganga 2..?? haha….
ns lemak..? i think i heard commentators last nite said about that… huuuu…..
well done guy…good job…keep on get the podium at least once
eM:
Why? Virgin boss wear Air Asia stewardess uniform and do catwalk in front of them..hahaha
keep up the great work guy !!!! proud of it !!!!
what happen to the word 'RACING', if you're there at the Bahrain GP to not 'race', then what are you there for? R&D? For the fun of it? To be the winner among the losers?
Change Lotus Racing to Lotus 'Testing' Team lah camni….. malulah… first time I see losers celebrate as if they're winning…. f1 circus…
now aim for scoring points…. modify here and there for aerodynamic and downforce so the car can go faster!
Keep up the good work….aim for points and more points….
yeap.. nice.. now starts the real world R&D. hope they can collect & analyze the datas from the race real fast.. so can do some appropriate fine tuning.
what happen to the word ‘RACING’, if you’re there at the Bahrain GP to not ‘race’, then what are you there for? R&D? For the fun of it? To be the winner among the losers?
Change Lotus Racing to Lotus ‘Testing’ Team lah camni….. malulah… first time I see losers celebrate as if they’re winning…. f1 circus…
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i think they deserve to celebrate for achieving the milestone to finish the race. for short span of time they proved that the car is reliable esp. on extra hot weather of bahrain. given time, they surely can beat more established teams in future. F1 itself is a R&D influenced racing, so i think with 6 cars cannot finished the race, the team should be given a break with all the hard works during past 6 months.
Hey all guys don't bee too happy, virgin expect to be back with full strenght due to they had collect alot of use full parameter during the first race, Virgin car was simulate by computer hence once they have real ground database they will quickly analyse and make the correction. The important is Lotus has to keep improve, this is just begining of race still long way to go……
Wang rakyat guna untuk promote Tony ! Inilah Malaysia Boleh yang baru ??
what happen to the word ‘RACING’, if you’re there at the Bahrain GP to not ‘race’, then what are you there for? R&D? For the fun of it? To be the winner among the losers?
Change Lotus Racing to Lotus ‘Testing’ Team lah camni….. malulah… first time I see losers celebrate as if they’re winning…. f1 circus…
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Mr_3M is another find example of a mindless basher. How do you expect a newly born baby to start run on it's first day born into the world…
We should be proud that our first step, we managed to achieve our target of finishing the race with both cars. This would give more statistics and details tp Lotus to prepare themselves in the upcoming race…
Please think before bashing next time ya.
good job Lotus Racing… keep up the momentum and hppefully they'll be competitive faster than a new team should..
carneo said,
March 15, 2010 @ 8:48 pm
Hey all guys don’t bee too happy, virgin expect to be back with full strenght due to they had collect alot of use full parameter during the first race, Virgin car was simulate by computer hence once they have real ground database they will quickly analyse and make the correction. The important is Lotus has to keep improve, this is just begining of race still long way to go……
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yup I agree… Virgin's cars are definitely faster than Lotus, but were unlucky to have problem during the race.
They should be better in Melbourne once they fix most of the hidraulic gremlins…
Should be a good fight with Lotus….
Lotus – 1
Virgin – 0
well done to lotus although the real malaysian team is mercedes petronas. someone in f1 once said, to finish first, first you have to finish. realistically lotus will only be amongst the backmarkers and with an engine package like cosworth (read, not very good) and NO aero package (they dont have a wind tunnel test).
Driver's skill is okay , just the 5 months-prepared car. Invest more in engineering team, bring in top engineers to help. In 5 to 6 years of dedicated effort, everything should pay out.
dickybird said,
March 15, 2010 @ 9:11 pm
well done to lotus although the real malaysian team is mercedes petronas. someone in f1 once said, to finish first, first you have to finish. realistically lotus will only be amongst the backmarkers and with an engine package like cosworth (read, not very good) and NO aero package (they dont have a wind tunnel test).
___________________________________________________________________________
Disgaree about your comment on Cosworth. It may not be as good as Ferrari but it did finish 10th in the race and in the points, powering Barrichello's Williams. This while being out of F1 for 3 years AND the cheapest engine out there! Not bad in my view.
Disagree also with the 'no windtunnel' comment. Lotus like everyone else (bar Virgin) used CFD + windtunnel testing to design their car. That's what Fondtech was for.
Btw, Cosworth were also at one time a few years back the first to reliably hit 20,000rpm with their V8 before they exited, if i'm not mistaken. They're not a 'lousy' brand as some armchair pundits like to think.
mr_3m said,
March 15, 2010 @ 8:13 pm
what happen to the word ‘RACING’, if you’re there at the Bahrain GP to not ‘race’, then what are you there for? R&D? For the fun of it? To be the winner among the losers?
Change Lotus Racing to Lotus ‘Testing’ Team lah camni….. malulah… first time I see losers celebrate as if they’re winning…. f1 circus…
——–
Did you watch the race? Lotus were racing! Trulli (or was it Kovi?) and Glock was dicing in the early laps!
lotus bye bye. where's my red bull?
no windtunnel tested part on this car yet. this is just an initial design from mike gascoyne, without CFD or windtunnel. they had to use it because they need to 'build' the car immediately to complete it in 5 months. so its an amazing achievement! the wintunnel tested car will debut at spanish GP (race 5).
the car(heikki) was about 3 sec off alonso and 2sec off massa in the final laps of the race.
BTW, there are 20 Malaysians in the team. 5 Malaysian engineers are among the 60 people there in Bahrain.
to the naysayers , study the team a bit to make sure you don't sound like a complete fool. critics are good. but not when it made out of assumption.
ASSUME = making an ASS of U and ME.
Mr 3m , if dun like f1 can always watch something else la , kalau tak suka makan pisang jangan masukan dalam mulut
finish???? D'uhhh Lotus got another 2 laps to finish!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!
well done boys..continue to finish last boys..cheers..
One of them has to become a stewerdess at the end of of the season serving the winner of the airlines. I think you can modify that pic of tony and richard with some dialogue in it, not that I am suggesting you to do so:P
with just 6 months they can start & finish the race.
i hope with a little more time, they will do better.
everyone need to start from somewhere first before acheiving something great!
Fairuz Fauzy doesn't look as excited as others, maybe he's a bit upset
that Lotus Racing car look like Nasik lemak 1Malaysia hahahahaha green like daun pisang….btw since when they use wak rakyat…plzl la hate wang sana wang sini…want talk politics go other forum la…
Amran said,
March 15, 2010 @ 10:15 pm
no windtunnel tested part on this car yet. this is just an initial design from mike gascoyne, without CFD or windtunnel. they had to use it because they need to ‘build’ the car immediately to complete it in 5 months. so its an amazing achievement! the wintunnel tested car will debut at spanish GP (race 5).
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It may have been an initial design concept from Gascoyne but It is IMPOSSIBLE to finalize design of an F1 car and commit to build it without either CFD or Windtunnel testing to confirm design.
The windtunnel scale model testing was done at Fondtech's Aerolab facility while CFD I believe was done in Bologna, Italy or was it Cologne, Germany.
What will appear in Spain is a major performance step culminating from ongoing windtunnel and CFD hours the team is investing in. I doubt that they're using their own windtunnel now at Hingham. More likely renting somewhere. But I read they are/have set up in house computer clusters for CFD. They have been outsourcing it before this.
Would love to know what role the 20 Malaysians (especially technical) are doing in the team. They weren't visible in photos or TV. Tony did promise 20 so lets see them. To have 5 Malaysian engineers if this is indeed true, is certainly very good news!
did they use our tax money?
haiya… anything with malaysia name will be wang rakyat kah?
stupid thinking….
If they really use 'wang rakyat', then you have to prove it LOSERR!!!!
go to other forum la..baral mcm ni pun org masih ada ka??
Good effort Lotus Racing. Manage to finish the race at last eventhough 2 or 3 laps behind. Gather more info and data and hopefully can collect some points after this race.
Salam..
so what..?
"You can have the world's best race driver in the world's best race car and not have a winning combination. There has to be chemistry, and that's something even science cannot explain."
Mario Andretti
yeap..simple thinking.. by the way what is the meaning of wang rakyat? rakyat pay taxes.. so the money is not the rakyats' anymore.. when u buy car, do u expect that the money u pay still belongs to u? hohoho..
Perhaps they were drawn in by the fragrance of the nasi lemak served by the Malaysian owned team!
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Hehe…. perhaps may be Lotus Racing should concentrate on developing the nasi lemak product rather than going racing….. the nasi lemak will give better returns per ringgit spent than the actual 'core' racing activities!!!!! hhahahhahahah….
Notice how the drivers stand in the back on the team photo… while Tony and the other 2 bosses sit at the front. Other team photos have the drivers in front. Says something about Lotus i think…?
mr_3m_wancer <- This fella doesnt know shit about F1 and didnt even at least bother to do a little homework. Those who thinks that "finishing a race is nothing" obviously has never finished a race… or has never even raced. All they do is talk as if they all everything. Testing my friend is also part of racing… a HUGE part.
As for those who bother too much about the LARGE sum of their money being spent on F1, then start your own freakin Airline! This is an AUTOMOTIVE forum… if you love money that much, join a bussiness or a political blog! Dhhhuuuh.
Good start by Lotus… its always nice to see new teams progress.
I really don't know what is there to celebrate. Create a car to finish at the bottom of the table? I know this is a new team but I rather see a team fighting at the middle pack and DNF than to see a car driving slowly to the finish line..Anyone can make their car finish the race, yes ANY TEAM. They just have to limit the RPM and not pushing it too hard but what is the point?
This is the easy part. To get a reliable car is good, but it is still far from being fast. The cars are still 7s off the lead, so there's a lot of work to do. In the next few races I'd reckon they'd shave a few more secs off, but once you are about 2.5s off the lead, that's when its gonna get bloody harder.
To get a quick car, and be reliable in the same time is gonna be a tall order in F1. Especially when things are happening by the minute. The moment a part is designed and manufactured to be tested, it is already 'obsolete' in F1 terms.
wallstreet said,
March 16, 2010 @ 11:50 am
I really don’t know what is there to celebrate. Create a car to finish at the bottom of the table? I know this is a new team but I rather see a team fighting at the middle pack and DNF than to see a car driving slowly to the finish line..Anyone can make their car finish the race, yes ANY TEAM. They just have to limit the RPM and not pushing it too hard but what is the point?
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You are right, if I drive my Proton Saga, I also can finish the race, without changing tyre somemore.
Wallstreet, you are right.
I also can finish the race driving my Proto Saga, no need to change tyre also.
wallstreet said,
March 16, 2010 @ 11:50 am
I really don’t know what is there to celebrate. Create a car to finish at the bottom of the table? I know this is a new team but I rather see a team fighting at the middle pack and DNF than to see a car driving slowly to the finish line..Anyone can make their car finish the race, yes ANY TEAM. They just have to limit the RPM and not pushing it too hard but what is the point?
——————-
You are right. I also can finish the race driving my Proton Saga, without changing tyre somemore.
Amran said,
March 15, 2010 @ 10:15 pm
no windtunnel tested part on this car yet. this is just an initial design from mike gascoyne, without CFD or windtunnel. they had to use it because they need to ‘build’ the car immediately to complete it in 5 months. so its an amazing achievement! the wintunnel tested car will debut at spanish GP (race 5).
the car(heikki) was about 3 sec off alonso and 2sec off massa in the final laps of the race.
BTW, there are 20 Malaysians in the team. 5 Malaysian engineers are among the 60 people there in Bahrain.
to the naysayers , study the team a bit to make sure you don’t sound like a complete fool. critics are good. but not when it made out of assumption.
ASSUME = making an ASS of U and ME.
______________________________________________________________
no wind tunnel testing???? >> http://www.ridelust.com/lotus-f1-team-begins-wind…
are you really keep on tracks on f1 sports???
lotus already do it with initial design with windtunnel test….but the real place to race is in real world…nothing can simulate 100% real life condition….so race data was crucial…with limited budget u can't rent the windtunnel facilities often to play and testing without any data prepared before going in the tunnel…
From the photo what i saw only the Malaysians in the team is the happiest, look at their face. The only the REAL engineers know when they should celebrate.
at least the money spent, the car can finish the race… Not like the submarine case…… duh..
First my A** said,
March 16, 2010 @ 11:28 am
Notice how the drivers stand in the back on the team photo… while Tony and the other 2 bosses sit at the front. Other team photos have the drivers in front. Says something about Lotus i think…?
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Interesting observation. I was also looking for the Malaysian faces that made up the technical team but couldn't see anything. All caucasian and the Malaysians we can see are the usual honchos. Maybe the guy squatting on the right is part of technical?
haiyah….wasting money lah…better invest on proton R&D to produce more good looking and high quality cars…
even big name toyota fall back, now proton buat2 kaya nk build team for F1…
stakat nk dapat nama jer, not worth it lah…
Tony? whois he? why him?
as much as I don't like the idea of using public money to sponser a F1 team, I must say that a new team with no works backing having BOTH cars finishing their first race right "out of the box" is an achievement. In F1 history many new teams did not even made it to starting grid on race day, and then there are some that didn't even made it to qualifying day. however the team must adopt a winner's attitude and not contend to be also run. Ron Dennis once said that coming second made you the first among the losers, now that is the kind of attitude competitors need to have.
apalaa.. sikit2 wang rakyat…takde sporting spirit langsung… the team are partly being sponsored by MNCs. U can see all those stickers around the f1 cars. All these sponsors shall be proud and happy with Lotus f1 as the 2 cars managed advertise their companies until the finish line.
sayapdewa said,
March 16, 2010 @ 1:24 pm
**********************
who is this sayapdewa that questioning? do Tony know you?
The question goes back to you, brother…
Wallstreet – you are wrong. The FACT is Virgin F1, HRT, Red Bull, Williams and a few others DID NOT FINISH THE RACE. may of them with mechanical failures. The common saying in F1 is 'to finish 1st you have to 1st finish' is very true. Lotus has proven that is has the reliability, now it can concentrate for the speed. This would probably come somewhere in the European leg. Now it waits to be seen is by how much, as the other teams will also be faster.
Yes, you can finish using the race by using the Proton Saga or Kancil, by which time everyone would heve gone home! (Silly comments).
err..hopefully they can upgrade the engine next season..i still think the Achilles heel of this lotus machine is the engine..hope they can emulate Sauber by using Ferrari's old engines in theirs for example and they gave a good fight..lotus can improve the aerodynamics and all..but if you're using a kancil 660 in a lambo..u cant expect much rite?
all the best green team!
Keep up the good work lotus……Dont forget, all of us here are sponsors XD
no wind tunnel yet guys
read this
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81931
""Q. Your aim from the start was to produce a simple car for the start of the season. With the updates coming, do you think there will be dramatic improvements in time?
MG: Yes. Normally you are chipping away and finding tenths, but now we are looking at updates that will bring us a second. You have to bear in mind that when we were finalising the design of this car, doing the crash structure and radiator inlets, it was still a month away from going in a wind tunnel. The basic radiator configuration had to be designed with no cooling figures, and no data""
Amran,
Gascoyne probably alluding to full scale wind tunnel testing.
The design did see windtunnel testing at Fondtech's Aerolab albeit in scale model i think 50% scale. The photos were all over the net including on the team's own website. So was CFD and FEA modelling, all visible, all outsourced in Europe.
To imply absolutely no windtunnel and/or CFD analysis for a design before committing to build a chassis is unthinkable.
yippi33 said,
March 16, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
err..hopefully they can upgrade the engine next season..i still think the Achilles heel of this lotus machine is the engine..
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I disagree. Heikki himself expressed in the Jerez test, that he thought the Cosworth engine was the strongest part of the package. It was the part of the car that gave the least trouble.
To imply that the Cosworth engine is weak is unrealistic. Just look at Williams-Cosworth. Same CA2010 unit. Barrichello qualified in 11th and finished the race in 10th.
Williams also revealed in post race that they were not at 100% pace because they had other technical gremlins throughout the weekend and they focused on ensuring they finished. Williams said after the race that there is definitely more to come from the engine, and their car as well.
Even in the test at Jerez, Cosworth said they're taking it easy with the engine because it's new and they need to make sure it meets reliability targets. They're unlike to take risks until they can confirm data for reliability, a function of track mileage. They just have to do the required number of races before they can confirm their simulations.
whats with the wang rakyat talk…its a venture between tune group naza,proton and a british racing outfit which is litespeed.the malaysian goverment does have a hand in it which is correct me if i am wrong sumthin like 10%,and its just to promote malaysia in an international stage for tourism i guess.cant believe how close minded and shallow some malaysians can be and as always only have the habit of complaining about everything…and yes lets keep politics out of the topic and this is a thread about racing…good luck to lotus and its a great start,developing a race worthy car within 6 months is not a easy task and its good enough that they had finished the race as a starter
Malaysians and British… working together…. great!
what else can say for COSWORTH powered lotus f1…..good job i guess!!!!
Finish below ? A success ?
I think these guys don't know what is motor racing………….tune the car down just to finish…………everyone knows that.
But where is the sheer pace to challenge the leaders…….? You got none of it.
Continue to finish like this and you end up last in the season ? LOL
Then you might as well pack your bags. And head for Proton cup instead !
LOL
Malaysians and British… working together…. great!
WRONG…
British working for Malaysian, a new era of colonialisation.
leonardo said,
March 16, 2010 @ 2:19 pm
Wallstreet – you are wrong. The FACT is Virgin F1, HRT, Red Bull, Williams and a few others DID NOT FINISH THE RACE. may of them with mechanical failures. The common saying in F1 is ‘to finish 1st you have to 1st finish’ is very true. Lotus has proven that is has the reliability, now it can concentrate for the speed.
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Can't you read my post more clearly? Most mechanical failures are due to the car being pushed beyond their limit and its up to the engineer to fix and improve it. You don't have to tell me ‘to finish 1st, 1st you have to finish’, it is also to finish last, first you have to finish..
Proven reliable and now can concentrate for the speed????? This is utterly rubbish and only ppl like you will buy it!! This car is only reliable because it does not have the speed!! Once you start pushing it to the limit, reliability issues will come!! Understand?? Only great engineer will make the car pushing to the limit, with great design and still reliable. What Mike Gascoyne did to the car is only nursing the car to the finish line and obviously he is NOT a great designer, HE IS A REJECTED 'stuff'.
Ferruccio said,
March 16, 2010 @ 6:56 pm
To imply that the Cosworth engine is weak is unrealistic. Just look at Williams-Cosworth. Same CA2010 unit. Barrichello qualified in 11th and finished the race in 10th.
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Yes. based on bahrain results, barrichello is in 10th. But based on the statistic and previous teams usage of the engine, cosworth powered are frequently filling up the back pack..we are talking about challenging the big boys now..not becoming winners among the backpackers….cosworth is a good engine and theyll win a couple of points this season no doubt.. but theyll need a better engine to climb up the chart..hope im wrong though..
yippi33 said,
March 17, 2010 @ 1:20 pm
Yes. based on bahrain results, barrichello is in 10th. But based on the statistic and previous teams usage of the engine, cosworth powered are frequently filling up the back pack..we are talking about challenging the big boys now..not becoming winners among the backpackers….cosworth is a good engine and theyll win a couple of points this season no doubt.. but theyll need a better engine to climb up the chart..hope im wrong though..
_______________________________________________________________________
It would be good if you can justify statements like .."based on the statistic and previous teams usage of the engine, cosworth powered are frequently filling up the back pack.."
Firstly, we are currently in the 2010 season moving forward and how Cosworth did or did not perform prior to this really is irrelevant to the current season. It's history.
Secondly, the following teams were powered by Cosworth from 2000-06: Jaguar, Minardi, Arrows, Jordan, RedBull, Williams, Toro Rosso.
Out of that list, how many teams would you say frequently "filled up the back pack"? I only see 1 team but am willing to be proven wrong.
As for "but theyll need a better engine to climb up the chart..", if 'they' refers to Lotus, yes, I agree. If Lotus want to be running with say the top 4 cars, Lotus will need to be willing to PAY similar amounts for engines as the the top 4 cars, whatever engine that may be.
If 'they' refers to Cosworth, I disagree. As the saying goes, "You can't have your cake and eat it too"
Not only has Cosworth provided THE CHEAPEST engine on the grid, and not by a small margin mind you, they've also proven that their engine could break into the Top 10.
If anything, the cars that finished behind Williams should wonder whether they should run Cosworth too!
Congrats on the Team. I don't know why after all this, the detractors will still find excuses to bash the Team. Jealousy? Armchair F1 drivers? Or just plain stupid narrowmindedness typical of those who want to comment for the sake of commenting.
Be happy for once considering it's a great first step.
Cheers.
Congratulations Lotus… a bit more tweak can go top ten.. hope can do that on Sepang GP time… !!
p/s Nevermind.. just use the so called "duit rakyat". Not worth it giving back to Malaysian. Malaysian only know how to complain and talk only. Lazy to work. Everything want subsidize… No enough money want to blame others, got enough money they stay in Australia and complains about Malaysia(after their education being subsidize by "duit rakyat"). So, please… do spent billions of ringgit to do this.. please… ignore the morons and spent the so called "duit rakyat"..
loser..
Great start but dont rest on your laurels. I understand that the 2010 budget is still not secured fully. Cash flow is key but am sure Tony & gang will find their way. So much to do besides putting two cars on the grid. That's the easy part, finding the means to do it is the difficult part of any racing team.
Lotus :Racing or makan angin(not Finish 2+3lap)? Virgin : Racing!!!