The “Battle of the Lotuses” is the talk of the town, with Proton owned Group Lotus joining Formula 1 by buying over Renault’s shares in the Renault F1 Team. The team will be called Lotus-Renault, with Lotus being the title sponsor. Regarding the name, it’s much like what Vodafone or Petronas is to McLaren and Mercedes GP respectively; so happens that Lotus is a car manufacturer.
But GL’s ambitions are higher than just being a title sponsor and shareholder, although that’s the starting point. GL CEO Dany Bahar hints about taking full control of the team in the next few years. “Our way of doing things means that at the end of the project we would like to control it ourselves,” the former Ferrari employee told Autosport.
“It’s the same route – it starts somewhere and then you slowly take control. We would not be in for the long-term just to be a sponsor on the team,” he added.
Lotus is in the midst of a major renewal, and signaled their intent by wheeling out five concepts at the Paris Motor Show. They’ll need a lot of money to realise that future range of cars. Do they have enough for Formula 1? “We would not commit without backing from shareholders, banks and investors. If we didn’t it would be foolish to come up with ambitious plans like this,” Bahar assures.
There will be three “home teams” with Malaysian backing next season. Who will you support at Sepang? :)
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
i can feel a ton of bricks, spit and fire raining down on me but life is about taking RISKS!!
F-I-R-S-T!!
btw i prefer motoGP! gud luck VR46, back to the motherland…
will support LOTUS…
ALL… ALL 3 TEAMS!!!
Regardless of their dispute or hanky panky, we want all to dominate. ENOUGH SAID!
If i’m going to F1 races again at Sepang, Singapore & Abu Dhabi. I will bring:
1. Petronas Mercedes GP T-Shirt
2. Lotus-Renault Flag
3. Team Lotus Pants
lol. i was thinking the same thing. except ill use lotus shirt and petronas pants.
U can replace the Lotus-Renault Flag with their cap offcourse.
Good Luck GL in F1 next season……
Btw I’ll support the ‘Real Lotus’ team…. not gonna say which one but you decide which one is the real one for you…. i know i have =)
Support Mercedes GP Petronas..less headache :D
true… they have 7 times champ with them… they wont screw around too much or he’ll screw them in media…
this time hv mercedes inject $$$ to build better car for Schumi to win races again….win 2011 title hard to say hv to wait until 1st 3 race then we can predict how far mercedes gp improved….really pity Schumi hv to drive poor & troublesome car happen on him…plus Brawn 2009 no Money to build Good car for 2010. then that what we get is 1 race also cannot win…huge different in 2009 & 2010 performance…F1 is all abt money to burn in order to get good result…
*Mati loh rakyat M’sia Money bagi orang Turkey tolong kita kuat belanja untuk burn cash….hv money don’t 1 use to build good Proton car but can use for Racing…
lame betul lah P1 always gv high cost excuse to build new car in media….
BABI betul…Dany bahar, dia cakap senang lah bcoz duit bukan dia keluar punya…..Group Lotus now queue to be the next Euro 1 (mungkin Rm1 case like AirAsia sold from DRB-Hicom) to sold out in coming near future jz like Agusta superbike…kalau macam ini baik lah bagi Tony ada chance beli & control lagi baik….
*Tony Fernandes win Forbes Asia Businessman Award 2010…he is really a great businessman expert in business world & smart….not much rakyat M’sia would able to achieved this kind of global well recognize Forbes awards…
of coz la.. he’s good, no doubt.. but true also not all people like to lick ar**.. LOL
Malaysia ..oh.. Malaysiaku
We’re such a small country, with a limited resources and now dabbling in one of the most expensive sport in the world. As that is not enough, we venture into the sport not as 1 Malaysia but as three (3)… yes, 3 separate and competing parties – Petronas, Proton and Air Asia Boss. Couple with the fact that the rivalry between Proton and Air Asia Boss is not only limited to the track alone but about to be spilled to the courtroom. While we fight, the rest will enjoy the show and many will benefit from the spoilts.
Malaysia..oh..Malaysiaku
the group of ppl that can benefit the most from all this are lawyers… anyway, Petronas did the right thing to sponsor MercGP, there’s a legend there racing for them.. IMO, Tony’s team (Team Lotus or previosly known as Lotus Racing) didn’t do any good for the image of ‘Lotus’ (as a car manufacturer), Lotus don’t belong at the back of the grid with cars 3-4 seconds slower per lap.. it’s phatetic, Lotus belong at the front, fighthing with the like of McLaren & Ferrari… i’m not discrediting all of Tony’s works but to me he just using the “Lotus” name to attract sponsors.. without that “Lotus” name last season (2010) i believe he’ll have a lot less sponsors, just like Virgin & HRT.. i’m 100% fully support the move by Group Lotus & Dany Bahar.. Group Lotus & Proton really need to do something about it before their “Lotus” name go down even lower.. & btw, i’m no Proton supporter.. i’m just getting sick of this group of ppl who showed their so called ‘clean’ faces to do bad thing at the back.. wake up ppl… wake up..
malaysia many resources one of the luckiest in the world…do u mean resources=oil?…this time i hav to support TF, y do we need gov alone to involve in anything n everything.. malaysian privateer also can do that mean malaysian can…malaysia boleh!!! TF just give us pathway as malaysian n malaysian businessmen to involve without gov
Involve without govt? I doubt that….pls look back at how he got to involve in it… in the first place… lol
without govmnt help,aide…especialy to their borther,sista,son,or CRONIES…lots of malayisa businessman or even billionaire cant even survive…too much breast feeding i guest but just for certain people(cronies)~
Yeah, do whatever you want to do Dany Bahar. Just make sure you use Group Lotus money, not asking some spare change from Proton. People says this deal will also benefit Proton. Well, look at the car and point to me where is Proton’s logo on that car. Mind you that picture was released by Lotus-Renault.
Until Group Lotus bought the whole team and other teams agree to their requested name change (I can imagine Tony would happily rejected it), Group Lotus in 2011 will only be title sponsor, nothing more.
do they need proton logo on it? on the Ferrari there’s only a very small Fiat logo on the car despite Fiat footing the bill for Ferrari….
silly dog frossonice, Proton owns Lotus and where else is Lotus getting
the funding from ? Even if not directly, it wil definately show
up in the P&L. Who you trying to con?
don’t forget Air Asia also sponsor william-cosworth teams….
The sponsorship deal is over. No more AirAsia on Williams next year.
no AirAsia still William F1 sponsor…
http://www.attwilliams.com/team/partners
May ask P1 to sponsor, cause they making money now!!! Inspira selling like hot cake
Lancer owner spotted!!! haha
Which one to support? I would like to support both of them, I admire what Tony and gang have achieved but have my reservations, when they set up as 1Malaysia racing, remember the hyperbolic phrases such as” Malaysian drivers” and “Malaysian Technicians”, “Malaysian Engineers”, “Malaysian facilities”, blah blah….of late, you no longer hear those admirable things…or am I reading all the wrong newspapers and blogs??
Anyway, good luck to both of them!
Malaysian like to be conned by sweet words.That’s for sure.
Don’t forget the wind tunnel in Sepang! I will always say it was to get that Labu terminal developed by Sime Darby.
spot on brother….all the big talk up front is just a cover to get Malaysian support for the team….the ultimate goal really is to sell merchandise related to Lotus Racing and reap in profit for themselves….nothing wrong to get all those profits but it’s not theirs in the 1st place since they only recently purchased the rights for Team Lotus from David Hunt…
so all the big huha celebrating their so called 500th race during last season is really promoting something that’s not theirs in the 1st place…no wonder proton is mad at them for using the Lotus name for their own profit….
that’s exactly what i have in mind bro… finally, a guy with good understanding.. bravo…
I support BMW Petronas.. Proton shud save d money for R&D.. Tun Mahathir oso told proton shud focus on R&D, produce better & greener engine (yesterday news).. not wasting money on this F1 craps.. but only has two enjine in d market, camTakpro 1.3 & 1.6.
walauweii which year you live now meh?
LOL
BMW Petronas?
LOL
:D
hahahah… so funny!!!
BMW Sauber – 2010
Mercedes GP Petronas – 2010
Sauber Petronas – last 3 years, correct me..
BMW Petronas???? dunno when… 2020 kot….
correction… BMW Sauber-Ferrari in 2010… coz using Ferrari’s engines, they didn’t drop out the “BMW” name (even though have the permission from FIA & other teams) coz didn’t want to lose the prize money they get in 2009 season..
sauber petronas? long time ago..
Hmmm Motorman and yet talking about BMW Petronas and greentech..bla..bla..bla…Maybe he owns a Motorcup that’s why he called himself a motorman. Bashing some more…What do you know bout CamPro anyway?
think should be cool…quite sure the Petronas Merc could challenge for Top 3…Lotus Renault go for 4 to 5th spot…whilst Lotus Racing (TF) team will make their best endeavor to be the first of double digit (no 10) …so we have teams in all 3 different area…watching on TV should be more fun…u know once in a while we got to see perhaps 4 lotuses and 2 petronas lining up on the grid….heheh…cool wei
the spirit of 3Malaysia….. i’ll support petronas for sponsoring a promising team, TF’s Team Lotus for offering Sir RB as flight attendant and of course Lotus Group’s Lotus-Renault as they are the Lotus car manufacturer.
next year will definitely put Malaysia on the world motorsport’s radar.
Group Lotus, enuff said… :)
what national anthem will we hear if Lotus-Renault win a race?
For constructor, it will be French national anthem as it is still a Renault team. Group Lotus at this moment is only their title sponsor.
The National Anthem for the winning team goes to which country the Team is based and not where the sponsors from. That’s why when Mclaren wins the British National anthem is played and not German for Mercedes
The national anthem is not based on location of operation. It is based on what country the team is registered in. Any race team in any series would first need to register itself under a national ASN sanctioned by the FIA. For Malaysia it is the AAM.
If you registered your race team with AAM for your FIA license, you can base your entire operation in Alaska and still have the anthem be Negaraku.
It”ll be either French or British anthem
negaraku with british accent and classic french background music
your comment is pure win! LOL
french of course
u never watch F1 before??!!
the anthem will be the driver la. not the team.. pathetic Msia!!
Actually there will be two anthem played. One for the driver’s National anthem and one more for the constructor National anthem. In this case if Robert Kubica win, it will be Polish anthem and follow up by French anthem. Bear in mind the constructor is Renault not Lotus.
u are the the one never watch F1 before. the anthem will be athe driver AND the team…fine
Guys, they bought all the 25% share held by Renault. The engine could probably be part English, part German/Italian assembled in Poland. Can’t remember who the other shareholders are; Genii Capital. Where are they from?
Might as well be Beethoven’s 9th Symp ‘Ode to Joy’. But if Schiller should have it, its a celebration of unity and brotherhood. Ironic.
Genii is from Luxembourg. The Renault Formula 1 V8 engine is built in Viry-Châtillon, France.
Malaysian are too obsess with cars. The proof:
-Three teams backed by Malaysian investor
-No matter how expensive, people will still buy new cars despite low income per capita
-Paultan; the best blog in malaysia, is about cars. Everybody wants to be the 1st to comment
:p
Ego, ego n more ego.
Petronas involvement, I can understand as we need to promote Sepang as well.
But Proton……..no need lah.
In fact, since Tony is doing it as well, even Petronas could pull out already.
it’s a lot more than ego bro.. it’s image, product awareness, future strategic planning, technical cooperation, marketing & so & so & so…
In the future, it’s good for our own sake if:
– chassis/car by proton(lotus)
– engine by petronas/renault
– team by tony fernandes
– driver by fairuz fauzy
– win at Sepang
truly malaysian F1 team.
It would be nice if Fernandez invite Lotus restaurant to sponsor them …heh heh..
done. me and tony are buddies. we have the rights to the name ‘roti canai’ and ‘team roti’ too.
kovalainnen curry,,, Trulli Amazing!
kovalainnen curry – Trulli amazing!
P.S Proton, get ready your wallet & prepare to splash some $$$…..;P
i still prefer motoGP since I can afford to own superbike instead of supercar…F1 car? unless u’re driving Ferrari, then it’s worth it to be watched at…
why do they keep calling tony bahar, ex ferrari employee? yes he did work for ferrari but GL not credible enough?
Ferrari is in F1 with Fiat (parent) backing… We don’t see any Fiat name…
A couple of years back, there was a talk to bring VW group into F1 with Porsche/Audi/Lamboghini….not VW name since VW is not associated with performance cars..
Similar with Proton, why on earth would Proton need to promote itself? Proton does not manufacture performance car… when we at the apex of motor racing, the direct beneficiary will high performance road cars…(not Proton Saga or Gen2 or Savvy or Inspira)… and coincidently Lotus is re-inventing itself by going agressive with 5 new high performance models (i personally don’t consider Elise as performance car)…
Lately we are seeing “war of Lotuses” with TF and Mike Gascoyne making statement about their dissapointment with Group Lotus decision NOT to be with them…
I personally support Group Lotus decision to buy a stake in RenaultF1 GP… the same with Petronas with they chose to sponsor Mercedes GP instead of Lotus Racing…
Both Group Lotus and Petronas have their own decisions and are answerable to their respective shareholders. Groups Lotus need to a stronger team in order to be able to promote their brand (and the selling of its cars) and Petronas need Mercedes to accept its Syntium lubricants as one of the official lubes for Mercedes cars (to penetrate european market)… and both gain nothing by being with Lotus Racing (no offence intended)….. TF and his honcos should have named their team as AirAsia Racing Team instead and build his own legacy like what Red Bull is doing… Why should they concern about Lotus racing heritage in the first place? They don’t manufacture Lotus cars… Its like asking Red Bull to rename its team to Alfa Romeo…So the question now, what is actually TF motive and objective? You dont simply poured millions of ringgit without having something to achieved…It really weird when you own a team that has nothing to do with your brand…. I smell something really fishy….
At the of the day, regardless of whatever issues (going to court,etc,etc)… we 1Malaysian should be happy that we have 3 teams bearing Malaysian name in 2011…and at the moment we are the only country in the universe that have 3 ‘home’ teams…
No Proton logos on the black and gold livery you see above. Just Lotus logos, the setup is similiar to the Fiat-Ferrari scenario you mentioned.
pual… i think he meant proton situation is same fiat… they backed lotus to be in f1 and there is no logo on the car same like fiat =)
actually guys.. there’s “FIAT” name on Ferrari F1 cars..
Ada fiat logo on Ferrari car… just google.
His theory makes sense. Just maybe, Group Lotus is sick of TF capitalising Lotus brand for their own benefit and not getting a piece of the cake. Proton? They appear to be pak turut only… but it still affect them in a way since GL is their subsidiary, so of course they’ll side with GL!!
Mike Gascoyne if I remember correctly grew up in Norfolk… so in some ways, I think the main driver of Lotus brand in TF’s team is him cuz he feels nostalgic/patriotic about the brand… unfortunate for him, Danny Bahar has his own plan and am not amused… Plus, MG has a notorious reputation of not staying in one team for long… if he leaves Team Lotus in the next few years as he did with Renault (or was it still called Benetton back then?) and Toyota and Force India, Lotus and TF is frakked up!!
Maybe its an Italian thing, but you know Valentino Rossi, he rides Fiat Yamaha in MotoGP. You figure it out. There’s a Mitsubishi there somewhere in 125cc.
It’s all about Advertising space, Airtime, Media Blitz. They’ve already capped costs. So punters buy now. Sell later when the world economy picks up. BAM!!!
Its Futures trading baybeh!
But personally, I feel the guy who stays on after the others sell out, he’s worth more than money.
Actually there is Fiat logo at Ferrari F10 cars located at the nose cone.
http://formula1.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/scuderia_ferrari_f10_2.jpg
“There will be three “home teams” with Malaysian backing next season. Who will you support at Sepang? :)”
Chi sin. So much money.
yo paul, what happened to your harve your F1 guy that went to lotus racing factory tour?
is he manage to interview tony and lotus driver?
stories coming this weekend… we’re taking some time because there’s nearly an hour of interview footage to process and edit etc
i go with team tony…
they are the one spending not the ppl money!
since when petronas and proton money is your money?
u donno proton is spending taxpayers money?? gosh..
breaking news :
Tony Fernandes was told at the F1 Commission meeting yesterday that he “must” change his team name
Tony refuted this in twitter I believe. I also think FIA will not allow name change as and when anyone pleases. There are procedures and ‘Team Lotus’ is as listed in their official entry list
Sorry Paul…have to give some copied tweets here
@PeterDWindsor: I hear that Tony Fernandes was told at the F1 Commission meeting yesterday that he “must” change his team name #f1
@tonyfernandes-No such thing. We are team lotus as submitted.
tonyfernandes via UberTwitter
And Will Buxton(Speed Channel F1 pit Reporter) confirming it @willbuxton: Have it on good authority that Team Lotus has not been asked or told to change its name. #F1
group lotus and proton where “force” to be in the situation…..tony trying hard to portray that as if he is the real “lotus”..
team lotus last race in the 90″s the legacy ends there…group lotus never stop,it continues,march on with few owners until it reach proton.
its the cost of reviving the legacy.
that the problem when we hook up to the legacy.
of course to be known we have to be in the world class arena. is that promising?
have we asked how the korean slowly conqure the world without actually having to enter any single F1
yes we showing some ok-ness in rally.
can we take the formula of mitsubishi, or subaru establishing names with rallying.
as the word r3 partly is about rallying.
im not opposing the idea of f1 as im also one of the fan. its good if the return is huge.
at the same time im so afraid of danny bahar 5 years plan. that going to be huge. and posed to a risk.
also should check about some legal aspect about the deal.
and for the race ,lotus fight with lotus its so unreal. almost that thinking the other lotus a fake lotus.
it makes the spirit diluted.
why not we support all of them?
2 x 5. Both are LPPL.
I’d prefer my kuaci.
i think the way TF it’s not right…TF suppose not fully 100% in-charge Lotus Racing..if he want to change his team name, simple discussion with all shareholder is needed…not just give the popular statement..hoohoho
How do you know his other shareholders did not agree with him?
I reckon the lotus logo on the nose is too big.
to match with their big ego
LOL
:D