Proton has just announced that it has revoked the Lotus brand licensing from the 1 Malaysia Racing Team led by Tony Fernandes. The team will continue to be called Lotus Racing till the end of this season but that will not be case in 2011. This also applies for the Team Lotus name that was recently announced for 2011.

The press release’s exact words were “with Proton’s agreement, Group Lotus has now terminated its licence to 1 Malaysia Racing Team to use the “Lotus Racing” brand in the 2011 and future Formula 1 seasons as a result of the flagrant and persistent breaches of the licence by 1 Malaysia Racing Team, which were damaging to the Lotus brand”. This is definitely not good news for the team.

It went on to add that it believes “neither 1 Malaysia Racing Team, nor any other company associated with Mr. Fernandes such as Tune Group Sdn Bhd or Team Lotus Ventures Limited, has the authority of Group Lotus to use any Lotus brand in the 2011 Formula 1 season”.

It was also revealed that the Tune Group’s recent rights acquisition of the Team Lotus name from a business formerly owned by David Hunt called Team Lotus Ventures Limited will not enable the Formula 1 team to use the classic name. Group Lotus said that it believes the so called rights have “no proper legal foundation”, as Hunt’s attempt to acquire the name in 1994 was ineffective. It was also said that Tony Fernandes knew this for a fact.

Proton also confirmed that it will take “all necessary steps” to protect the rights in the Lotus name, “including resisting any attempts by Mr. Fernandes or his companies, or any other unauthorized person, to use the Lotus name in the 2011 Formula 1 season”.

Chairman of both Proton Holdings Bhd and Group Lotus, Dato’ Sri Nadzmi Mohd. Salleh said, “We believe the Lotus brand to be one of the most valuable brands in Formula 1 today. We are the owners of this brand, and will take all necessary steps to protect it. Tony Fernandes has no rights to use the Lotus brand in the 2011 Formula 1 season, and we will strongly resist any attempts by him to use our brand without our permission and will withdraw our sponsorship of the Lotus Racing team.”

“To put it simply, Group Lotus is everything Lotus. The fact that 1 Malaysia Racing Team entered into an agreement with Group Lotus to use the brand means that both Mr. Fernandes and 1 Malaysia Racing Team recognises and acknowledges Group Lotus’ rights,” he added.

The press release also stated that Proton will withdraw its sponsorship of the Lotus Racing team for the 2011 season. If this revocation continues to be implemented, Fernandes will have no choice but to rename the team, but there could be other underlying issues. So what will happen to the Lotus Racing team? Only time will tell.

Greetings from Singapore! It was an exciting race under the lights at the Marina Bay Circuit where Fernando Alonso drove superbly to lead from start to finish. There was plenty of drama as well – the collision between Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton which saw the latter retire, Schumacher clashing with Nick Heidfeld in his comeback race and Robert Kubica overtaking like a hero in the latter stages of the race. Speaking of that, we haven’t seen so much overtaking in the Singapore GP before!

But one of the most dramatic moments of the race for me and fellow fans seated on the pit straight grandstand was the sight of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus T127 going up in flames right in front of us. We saw the Finn’s car catching fire on the screen, but instead of going into the pits, he drove the by now engulfed car towards the start/finish line. He then jumped out and played fireman, receiving great applause from the crowd for his efforts!

That happened one lap before Alonso took the chequered flag just ahead of a tenacious Seb Vettel, who was sniffing away at the Ferrari’s tail all day. Mark Webber took third to maintain his championship lead.

I’ve covered F1 races from the press room and Paddock Club before, but this was actually my first time watching as a spectator from the grandstand, and it was much more exciting. Great atmosphere, loud crowd, plenty of ooohs and ahhhs – my ears are still buzzing! Our kind hosts, Shell, provided us with Kangaroo TV sets so I could hear the commentary and watch the race on my personal screen, but even with earphones on, my eardrums vibrated painfully everytime a car zoomed pass. Earplugs would have solved the issue, but I would then have to sacrifice commentary!

Anyway, it was a great race and a great experience. Here are some pictures I took to “share the atmosphere” with you. They are after the jump. Enjoy!
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Fernando Alonso and Ferrari have won the 2010 Singapore GP, after starting from pole position. The Spaniard managed to fend off closest in-race rival Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull and remained in first place through out the entire race. Red Bull’s other driver, championship leader Mark Webber managed to cross the finish line in third place.

Fourth place went to McLaren’s Jenson Button followed by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, Williams’ Rubens Barrichello and Renault’s Robert Kubica. Force India’s Adrian Sutil, Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa made up the rest of the top ten finishers. Massa finished in tenth after starting from the back end of the grid. Only 16 drivers finished today’s race with Heikki Kovalainen being the last. The only surviving Virgin, of Lucas di Grassi’s finished in 15th. Both Hispania drivers retired.

This year’s grand prix around the street circuit of the Marina Bay was anything but unentertaining. The start was pretty much incident free and Alonso managed to keep his car in front Vettel’s Red Bull who had a slightly better start. However an early retirement by Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi (due to an contact) forced the stewards to deploy the Safety Car in the early stages of the race.

Several drivers took the opportunity to change tires and as the dust settled Alonso was still up in front with Vettel in second. Hamilton was running third ahead of teammate Button and Rosberg. Felipe Massa who started from last place on the grid managed to get himself as high as 16th, following an early pit stop and the deployment of the Safety Car.

The race continued on with not-so-significant events. Alonso kept on leading and was slowly easing his way ahead of Vettel but the lead didn’t breach the 10-second mark. Mid-way through the race, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi had a contact with Michael Schumacher but both cars escaped undamaged. The Safety Car was deployed for the second time when Kobayashi ran wide just minutes later and slammed the barriers at Turn 18. Hispania’s Bruno Senna then crashed into the back of his Sauber.

Green flag was drawn soon after but the it wasn’t a good restart for Lewis Hamilton. The World Champion was battling with Mark Webber for third place. They came into contact and Hamilton was unable to continue hence he had no choice but to retire. Schumacher was involved in another incident, this time with Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld who took over driving duties from Pedro de la Rosa. Heidfeld was forced to retire while Schumacher managed to continue, but had to change his front wing and that dropped him down the field. He eventually finished the race in 13th place.

At the closing stages of the race Heikki Kovalainen suffered from a spin and moments later his Lotus was on fire. He managed to stop his car on the main straight and he along with some marshals managed to put the fire out. As mentioned he was classified as a finisher. Further up the field, Vettel was able to put more pressure on Alonso but failed to overtake. The gap between the two was about 0.2 seconds when they crossed the finish line.

Hispania’s Christian Klien, Virgin’s Timo Glock and Lotus’ Jarno Trulli made up the 8-driver retirement list. Trulli suffered from a hydraulics problem. In the Driver’s Championship, Webber is still ahead, now with 202 points. Alonso is now closer than ever with 191 points. Hamilton, Vettel and Button all have 182, 181 and 177 points respectively.

Red Bull is still going strong in the Constructor’s Championship with 383 points. McLaren and Ferrari both have 359 and 316 points. With just four races remaining, the fraternity how heads to Suzuka for the Japanese GP.

The full results can be viewed here.