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Formula 1
F1: Hiring Raikkonen Shows We’re Serious - Bahar
Group Lotus boss goes for experienced driver in Kimi Raikkonen...
Kimi Raikkonen will be back in F1 next year with Lotus Renault GP. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar says LRGP’s decision to take Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean shows that the team is serious about taking a step up.
Bahar insists that the team made a conscious choice not to take drivers with funding.
“The decision we took was that we need to bring the team to the next level,” Bahar told Reuters at a media event today. “Now it's the next step, to restructure the team, to bring in new talent, technical talent, an experienced driver, maybe not to go after 'pay drivers' any more, not to look to the highest bidder any more. It's really to get more and more competitive.”
Bahar said that dropping Vitaly Petrov – who brought funding from Russia – was a sign of the new policy.
“It's a brave decision to say: ‘We're not after the money, we try to go the hard way, we try to succeed through performance, with the best people coming in, best driver coming in, and make the team better.’
“We have to fight even harder to get the money, even harder to race and to get sponsorships, but we believe we have a nice offer especially now with the two brands [Group and Team Lotus] combined.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 26th season as a racing journalist in 2010. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
Bahar insists that the team made a conscious choice not to take drivers with funding.
“The decision we took was that we need to bring the team to the next level,” Bahar told Reuters at a media event today. “Now it's the next step, to restructure the team, to bring in new talent, technical talent, an experienced driver, maybe not to go after 'pay drivers' any more, not to look to the highest bidder any more. It's really to get more and more competitive.”
Bahar said that dropping Vitaly Petrov – who brought funding from Russia – was a sign of the new policy.
“It's a brave decision to say: ‘We're not after the money, we try to go the hard way, we try to succeed through performance, with the best people coming in, best driver coming in, and make the team better.’
“We have to fight even harder to get the money, even harder to race and to get sponsorships, but we believe we have a nice offer especially now with the two brands [Group and Team Lotus] combined.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 26th season as a racing journalist in 2010. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
Spanish Grand Prix
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