We told you last week that Lotus Racing was seeking to use Renault engines, and a deal has been agreed in principal, with the former’s three-year engine supply contract with Cosworth being the only hurdle. Well, it looks good now as Cosworth has announced that it will set Lotus free from the contract!
“Cosworth has reached an agreement in principle with Lotus Racing whereby the team’s Cosworth engine supply agreement will come to a conclusion at the end of the current Formula 1 season,” Cosworth said in a statement last night. “This agreement is subject to contract and until the agreement is signed, neither party will be making any further comment.”
With the termination of the deal with Cosworth, Lotus will be free to procure engines, gearboxes and transmissions from Renault, which also powers championship contenders Red Bull Racing.
In yesterday’s Italian GP, Heikki Kovalainen finished 18th while Jarno Trulli recorded a DNF thanks to yet another gearbox failure on lap 46. Fernando Alonso won the race in his first time driving for Ferrari at Monza, followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button and teammate Felipe Massa. Read our race report here.
On another note, Autosport reports that Lotus Racing will race under the classic Team Lotus name starting next year. This is after team boss Tony Fernandes purchased rights to use the name from former owner David Hunt. The announcement will come during the Singapore GP, it adds.
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good for them. at least it’s a step up. now they have to benchmark themselves to renault f1 in terms of aerodynamics.
on another note, anyone know if lotus f1 is receiving any funding from govt?
Its 1 Malaysia F1 team. What do you think?
next year official name change from Lotus racing to Team Lotus after success get the right of previous F1 lotus owner….Lotus will continue with the heritage name….will be powered by Renault n all the related system like gearbox, kerb n so on…
no funding from the govt. la..
The country’s RM -> Lotus
The country’s RM -> Merc
Both somehow, someway; directly or indirectly.
My 2cents.
Petronas is one of the official sponcers for merc.
No. The team is wholly self funded by Tony, Kamarudin and Nasa. No funding at all from the govt.
+maxis+CNN+airasia
If there’s totally no public funds going in, I’m all for it.
Lotus maybe no public (yours and my money) fund, what about the Petronas (the oil is from our land).? :|
i’m ok with it..
i thought they say earlier, “the only government supports and fund is through Proton”???
no, it is not get fund from out govt. check this out http://www.tunegroup.com/tunesport.html
Whoa! Is this an industry first? I know Lotus has been trying to keep as much British as possible (which is a lot to say when we compare local tendecies). So nullifying a 2 year contract puts Cosworth right up there on my humane corporate list. Big love to Cossie! (If there was no severance payout)
The govt endorsed as long as they promote the country, such as giving facilities through their GLCs.
I quote from wikipedia: “Lotus Racing is run by 1Malaysia F1 Team Sdn. Bhd., a partnership between the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs[6] such as Proton (who owns Lotus Cars), Sepang International Circuit (SIC), Tune Group, Naza Motors, the Motorsports Association of Malaysia and Automobile Association of Malaysia. The Malaysian Government, has, however emphasized that the government itself is not going to invest in the team[7] and that the Malaysian government’s investment is only through Proton.[4] The project is part of the 1Malaysia initiative, intended to promote unity amongst Malaysians.”
You also can refer these:
http://birds-poem.blogspot.com/2009/10/parliament-pelaburan-kerajaan-dalam.html
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/26/nation/20090926120217&sec=nation
Aiya… GOM invested through Proton??? Still the RM go out lor, both directly to Merc and indirectly to Lotus.
Why can’t the GOM just pick 1, either … or ….? and give the fullest support…
How come Williams have no problems with Cosworth powertrains? Both Williams cars have been consistent top 10 qualifiers and finishers for much of this season.
Look at Hulkenbergs outstanding performance at Monza….he was able to keep Red Bull Renault and Renault F1 in check for most of the race!
Lets see whether a performance boost happens next year or whether Cosworth Powertrains are just a convenient scapegoat for dismal 2010 results…
that’s when experience comes in, my fren..
Lotus’ technical troubles have been with the Xtrac gearbox package. Not with the Cosworth engine. The gbox has been a letdown and Lotus was primarily looking for a new gbox supplier. The engine deal was an added deal.
Thus Williams has no problems with Cosworth because there is nothing majorly wrong with the Cossie V8. Williams is also using Xtrac gearbox parts but only the internal gear packs. Everything else with the box (ie casing, hydraulics etc) was pretty much made by Williams themselves
A great news for Lotus, hope to see them in the top roll of the grid line. By the way, will Proton adopt the technology of the Lotus on their street model?
do “handling by lotus” rings any bell? they have done it for years.
No they don’t. Not directly at least. There are GLCs that are sponsoring them but that doesn’t necessarily mean our tax ringgit are going to them.
As with any money a GLC makes, there’s rakyat money involved so in a way, we could say we are sponsoring but it’s through multiple layers to a point where it doesn’t really matter anymore. Probably less than half a sen off every ringgit given to a GLC from the govt.
i’m so happy….YAHOO!!! Thx cosworth release lotus to keep catching dream….next year can see Lotus-Renault….sure can compete with midfield team next year…..haha…..Next yr must beat Toro Rosso, sauber, force india, williams….tobe the best new midfiled team…..No need to any future reliability issue with engine problems, gearbox problems & hydraulic problems 2011 onwards….1 more nice things is 2011 will use Renault kerb system..
From the comments, it is if Cosworth sucks and Renaut tops… Don’t understand.
If so, why not go for Ferrari or Merc engine? huh.
Good observation. It’s because many have misunderstood the story. Lotus’ problems have been with the Xtrac gearbox. The Cosworth V8 have been very reliable. The new engine deal was a bonus and was not a primary concern like the Xtrac gearbox. From what I heard there is possibly an incentive to Lotus to take the Renault engine..
Thus you are right. If Lotus wanted to ‘fix’ their engine and go with the best on the grid they would have looked at Merc or Ferrari.
The Renault engine is not as good on ultimate hp and suffered visibly against the Merc and Ferrari at Monza, a circuit requiring high hp and low downforce.
first;
malaysian wants Renault engine when they said cosworth is sucks
now lotus will get renault engine and malaysian wants ferrari engine.. LOL
Cosworth is not a bad engine; it’s just the combination of Cosworth and xtrack gearbox and hydraulics system on lotus car seems not working very well.
there’s a report that lotus will develope their own hydraulics system for next year car combine with renault engine and gearbox.
It is believe that Virgin also might consider switch to renault engine next year if they can get renault reserve driver Jerome d’Ambrosio to drive for virgin next year.
If they use the entire powertrain package from Renault, it will include the hydraulics also. In addition I think it will likely be that the rear end aero package will also have a lot of similarities with Renault.
it will not same rear end aero package….that package from their own R&D..if they get similar package that gud la…no need so much investment to do R&D…..but u must not forget any aero package must be synchronize for all part of f1 car..if front aero not support rear how can f1 car perform
Not saying that the rear aero will be the same. I said it might have a lot of similarities. The reason is because the mechanical packaging is the same. Renault may also want to use with Lotus for aero development because there is that RRA (Resource Restriction Agreement) which limits hours allowed on windtunnel development per team. Lotus is still far from the RRA limit so the unused hours can be seen as a commodity by Renault.
For Lotus using Renault rear aero package, if allowed, is a nice short cut for their design office since powertrain is the same.
In F1, the rear aero package determines what the front looks like because the front’s job is to feed air to the rear as efficiently as possible. The front wing will always be designed to match the rear
u know malaysian give betis want peha…..if lotus get ferrari engine than they want rocket engine next time…….
they want the best for the team.. do the best… they maybe loss the race but not bcos they not gave the fight to the other team..
haha….yaya dun knw why m’sian ppl always behave like this 1….1st desperate want renault ,after get renault they complain want even powerful engine of ferrari (sure see ferrari both on podium& win the race reason) or mercedes….
but for me, renault engine still the best choice….the most reliable engine over ferrari & mercedes…..jz only lack of hp power on max speed on straight line….but they manage to get F.Alonso win 2 world champion title in 2005-2006….win over Mclaren Kimi which is powered by mercedes 2005 & Ferrari 7 time world champions Schumi in 2006….
since renault parent company itself is on the way back to regain power seriously to continue play F1 game…they leave F1 selling 85% to genii capital management after not happy with the case of crashgate & their double champions leave join ferrari…
I don’t see anything wrong with that :D
This is good stuff, finally tony and the naza brothers are taking this very seriously. But i hope lotus will edge virgin by the end of this session else tony gonna wear the air stewardness uniform by end of yr! Last weekend in Monza Glock edged our Lotus boys and bad luck struck Trulli again, not a good sign actually.
lotus is owned by Tony, his AA partner (Kamaruddin Meranun) and one of the Naza boys(Nasarudin). SM Faisal is not involved. Though there is a few more races left, in the championship standings, Lotus is still 10th while Virgin is 12th and last. A bit surprising that even HRT is ahead of Virgin in standings.
when renault, ferrari or merc provides engine to another team, how does the receiving team know whether the engine provided is of simliar build or quality compared to engines fitted in their own car?
since renault, ferrari and merc are racing themselves, surely there will be motivation to supply an inferior engine to other teams right? And they could do it in the least obvious way such such that it is not noticeable (considering how technical these cars are, the difference could be microscopic), but yet significant enough to give them a slight advantage.
the engine supply to their customer team r restricted with FIA regulations, so all the same team will get same spec engine tuning as their supply engine team….the regulation is to make sure F1 is fair play to all team…
there is no such things that the manufacture team’s engine is hold advantages or far better superior of their customer team….example mclaren is better a lot than mercedes gp, red bull racing is better a lot than renault….only different between the two are is the aerodynamic package…..
Mclaren hv F-duct over mercedes gp(mercedes gp hv trouble with their tyre issue )…..
Red bull Racing hv blow diffuser & flexi front wing over renault….
at least they try to improve themselves.. hopefully, no more engine or gearbox problems in next season..
Also like to know If lotus paid any extra price to get cosworth away from them?
i guess this things sure cannot get off with MONEY matters….commonly u n all of us know lah….sure hv lah…..no way Cosworth so bodoh to lost 1 of their customer….this is Business deal…
Some good points raised by Ferrucio. However, the switch to Renault powertrains will increase reliability of the Lotus cars but on its own will not address the fundamental problems of the Lotus which is a serious lack of speed in the package. A lot of brave talk and bravado by the team but the stopwatch doesn’t lie…..there is a significant speed difference between Lotus and Toro Rosso. On at least some tracks this year, the Toro Rossos and the Saubers have shone with their speed when the track configurations suit them. No such luck with any of the new teams, they have been slow everywhere. Williams with the same engine are competitive and Lotus have had plenty of finishes despite the gbox being fragile yet no speed in the package. Can’t blame the drivers, Jarno and Heiki are both very competent so design and development need to be ramped up if they are not to fall further behind.
Changes for 2011 dont bode well for them though. With Pirelli coming in and other technical regs being introduced, any lack of development spending will only see the chasm widen between the established teams and the newcomers. Being far from the RRA limit is not something they should be proud of!! Like i said, we will see how it all plays out in 2011…
The Lotus outlook for 2011 is positive even before factoring these recent Renault developments. The reason is development time. Lotus did not have the luxury of time to develop their 2010 car thus the aero design was very crude and was very difficult to improve upon.
Despite the handicap they’re the best of the new teams which is encouraging but not unexpected by Mike Gascoyne. The key was finishing races. For 2011 they have the benefit of early development and more hours to refine their aero. It’s already reported that their current 2011 model is already significantly more efficient than their 2010 car’s aero. They’ve already spent a lot of effort in their 2011 car, just like all other teams.
In some ways, it is in fact not the ideal scenario to have to change the powertrain completely at this point because the aero guys would need to restart their work as their assumptions have changed and certainly there would be unrecoverable windtunnel hours and $$$ burned. However this may be offset if Renault can share their aero data etc..
But we will see. I think overall it’s a positive move. However the package will still not be race winning but should be good enough for championship points.
Team hasn’t received a single cent from the Govt, so yeah right now it’s just those three guys funding them… Proton’s sponsorship of the team is tiny apparently, they’ve been accorded that ‘special privilege’ of being a team partner for a small amount because they obviously own Proton….
They own LOTUS the road car company sorry… typo
the one factor that can make lotus project succesful is tony fernandes. i hope he will prove the critics wrong. if other people like some other malay business than i will be a little sceptical.
Both his partners Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun and Nasarudin are Malay. This day an age I don’t think it’s fashionable to distinguish by race. They’re all one Malaysia and proudly so.
i agree with u….tony fernandes itself is a great man….what ever business he in….all r vr successful….u will proud of him if u knw the full story behind the AirAsia begin it life journey bcm so successful until today….so the most contribute in the Lotus F1 business is him….although he hv some partners included malays jz for to get support from govt n GLC…nothing to surprise here is M’sia so the way of doing things is totally like our Bolehland scenarios…. no malays in where can get Govt /GLC support….
His partners are pumping in money just as he is. They just happen to be Malay. The reason they’re involved is because of their long standing relationship with Tony.
It would be great to see another brand come back into play.. Maserati.. or Alfa Romeo
so, after a while in the racing, may I know what sorta benefit that Proton will be getting? Any technology transfer to Proton cars??
(other than the racing green colour transfer to the limited edition Neo la….)
Nice…Team Lotus-Renault what a classic. It’ll classiest if they paint it black and gold minus the JPS. I reckon that the drivers also will be change for next season. Maybe Jarno-Petrov (package with Renault powerplant) or Heikki-Petrov. Just wait for the news at Singapore GP from the team.
Nice…Team Lotus-Renault what a classic. It’ll be classiest if they paint it black and gold minus the JPS. I reckon that the drivers also will be change for next season. Maybe Jarno-Petrov (package with Renault powerplant) or Heikki-Petrov. Just wait for the news at Singapore GP from the team.
But from report and gossips around the net,both driver Trulli and Kovalainen will be staying with Lotus for second season. Trulli already inked his contract with Lotus and Kovalainen also already have signed a contract but will be announce at Singapore GP. Just wait and see. Lotus maybe will announcing Renault deal and the return of “Team Lotus” moniker with the drivers line up for 2011 at that GP.
Here is hoping that Lotus would use their colour scheme back in the days they were running renault engines.
This is good news. Hopefully Lotus would be able to compete somewhere in mid field and perhaps the first few points in 2011?
Another money making project by TF and his cronys.
New engine new contracts, new wind tunnel will blow a hole in Lotus pocket.
TF is a businessman and nothing is free cos at the end of the day
the Msian public will be the ones who will end up subsidising TF.
Just like when he played out and abandoned the people of Sabah
and Sarawak, AAsiaX was supposed to be rural air services.
now we just wait what are they gonna do to improve their aero package….