F1: Team Lotus Name Officially Back In 2011

Formula 1

F1: Team Lotus Name Officially Back In 2011

The Lotus team will officially be known as "Team Lotus" starting next season...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted September 24, 2010 Singapore (SGP)

Members of the Lotus Formula One team gather at Singapore last Friday to announce that the team plans to be known as "Team Lotus" beginning next year. (Photo: Adam Cooper, SPEED.com)

Tony Fernandes confirmed today that his team will be running as Team Lotus in 2011.

He has concluded a deal to buy the name from former F3000 racer David Hunt, who has owned it since the end of 1994. The younger brother of James Hunt bought what was left of the original F1 team at the end of what turned out to be its final season. He joined Fernandes for the announcement, and will remain involved in the team, mainly in a sponsor-hunting role.

"Nothing else changes," said Fernandes. "We'll still be based in Hingham, we'll still have Mike Gascoyne, and we'll still be green and yellow. We're just changing the name and bringing back all the history."

The Lotus F1 team will no longer have any connection with Group Lotus, having had a licence to use the name this season. That deal has now ended. Meanwhile, as reported previously, Group Lotus – which is already involved in the IRL with Takuma Sato - is going racing in GP2 and GP3 next season in conjunction with the ART team. However, Fernandes denies that the apparent clash will cause problems.

"There's no confusion. If Group Lotus decided to sponsor the ART racing team, that's fine, and that carries on. We don't actually understand the logic behind that, but that is their call."

Fernandes doesn't expect an ART/Lotus F1 effort: "I think it would be a very odd situation and will destroy a lot of goodwill. It was always very clear: Group Lotus is a car company, and Team Lotus has always been a racing team, racing in Indy and many other series, including Le Mans. I wouldn't think that would happen.

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"English law is very clear. Trademark is an extra source of protection, but good will and ‘passing off’ is very clear in English law. If someone tried to pass off [as Team Lotus] as a Formula One racing team or even in GP2 or Indy, we will obviously challenge that."

Fernandes didn't want to be drawn on the Renault deal: "We obviously have something, but today we want to focus on the name. There are lots of things we want to tell you guys, but we want to do it step by step. There are still four races. We obviously have a deal on the table for an engine, and once the time is ready to announce it, we'll announce it. We've obviously made an announcement that we'll cease our arrangement with Cosworth."

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter