SportTrades like Formula 1, after all it's one of the biggest sports in the world. Formula 1 attracts huge television figures and is one of the richest sports in the world with drivers earning their salaries by driving faster than anyone 'normal' would ever dream of. The season starts next weekend in Bahrain.For the 2010 F1 Season, we're going to be following the new Lotus Racing team on the blog. The Lotus name has great history in the sport, with the original team founded by Colin Chapman winning six drivers championships, dominating the sport in the 1960's and 70's. Great British drivers like Graham Hill and Jim Clark won titles for the team and although the team declined in the 1980's and 90's drivers like Nigel Mansell, Artyon Senna, Nelson Piquet and Johnny Herbert all drove well for the team.
Driving for the team in 2010 will be experienced Italian Jarno Trulli, talented Finn Heikki Kovalinen and young Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy who is the team's test driver. Trulli comes to the team with experience under his belt having driven for Minardi, Prost, Renault and Toyota in an F1 career that has spanned 13 years winning one race. Kovalinen comes to the team after two dissapointing years with McLaren as team mate to Lewis Hamilton. During that time he gained three podiums, one of those being a win after he won the Hungarian GP in 2008.
Fauzy comes onboard thanks to the Malaysian involvement in the team, although he has good experience in single-seater motorsport having driven in British Formula 3, A1GP and the GP2 series. As test driver for the team his work will be limited this season due to the fact there is little testing involved in F1 thesedays although he will be present at all the races in the season operating as the third driver for the team should anything happen to Trulli or Kovalinen.
The new Lotus team will initially be based in Norfolk, though its future design, research and development, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose-built at Malaysia's Sepang International circuit. In its new incarnation the team is a partnership between the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs.
Team principal of the team is Malaysian Tony Fernandes, who is the founder of the Malaysian-based Tune Group, which owns the Air Asia airline. Bringing experience to the team is Mike Gascoyne. Gascoyne has 20 years' experience in the sport after working with Jordan, Renault, Toyota, and most recently Force India. For a new team his experience and know-how will be priceless and will defiently be of great value to the team.
On February 12th the team unveiled its 2010 challenger, the Lotus Cosworth T127, at a glittering event in London’s Royal Horticultural Hall. Team Principal Fernandes was joined on stage by Gascoyne and drivers Trulli, Kovalainen and Fauzy to take the wraps off the car in front of a 500 strong live audience. The car's livery is green and yellow, which pays tribute to the Lotus name of the past.
Fernandes gave his thoughts on the astonishing achievement the Lotus Racing team has accomplished in launching the car just five short months since the team was granted its entry to the FIA Formula One World Championships, saying: “I am extremely proud to be here today and to be able to show the world the fruits of the team’s hard work over the last five months. It’s humbling for me and my fellow shareholders, to see how a team that five months ago didn’t even exist is now a thriving workforce, full of enthusiasm and passion for Lotus Racing and the challenges ahead and capable of producing such a machine in such a short time.
“Now we’ve achieved two major milestones; confirming our entry and unveiling our car, but now the real work starts. Next we move on to testing and the season ahead and I’m confident that the team will exceed expectations wherever we go, building on the support we've gathered so far."
Mike Gascoyne added his thoughts, saying “The last few months have been some of the most challenging of my career, but it’s been a challenge the whole team and I have thrived on since we first started work on the car up in Norfolk. I’m delighted that we’ve reached this point, and now we have a beautiful car that gives us a great base to work from for the season ahead and a fighting chance of going racing in the right way, with a winning mentality. The hard part starts now, and I know everyone in the team and I are up for whatever lies ahead. We want to be racing some of the established teams and be in with a chance of scoring points later in the season. It's a big challenge, but I like a challenge."
Both Trulli and Kovalinen are hopeful of a good season. Although the team will be competiting this season under a Malaysian licence, the Lotus group has great prestige in Britian and alike the new Virgin team look well equipped to have a good season where they will be hopeful of scoring points. The F1 season starts next month in March and with the team undergoing the current test at Jerez this week and the test in Barcelona next week, we have an inkling that the team can cap a dream start to the season with a points finish.
Team principal is Tony Fernandes, the founder of the Malaysian-based Tune Group, which owns the Air Asia airline. Vast experience also comes into the team on Mike Gascoyne's shoulders. Gascoyne has 20 years' experience in the sport after working with Jordan, Renault, Toyota, and most recently Force India. He returns to F1 as the team's technical director and will be of great help to the team.On February 12th team unveiled its 2010 challenger, the Lotus Cosworth T127, at a glittering event in London’s Royal Horticultural Hall. Team Principal Fernandes was joined on stage by Gascoyne and drivers Trulli, Kovalainen and Fauzy to take the wraps off the car in front of the awaiting media. The car's green and yellow livery, pays tribute to the Lotus name of the past.
Fernandes gave his thoughts on the astonishing achievement the Lotus Racing team has accomplished in launching the car just five short months since the team was granted its entry to the FIA Formula One World Championships, saying: “I am extremely proud to be here today and to be able to show the world the fruits of the team’s hard work over the last five months. It’s humbling for everyone involved to see how a team that five months ago didn’t even exist is now a thriving workforce, full of enthusiasm and passion for the challenges ahead.
“Now we’ve achieved two major milestones; confirming our entry and unveiling our car, but now the real work starts. Next we move on to testing and the season ahead and I’m confident that the team will exceed expectations wherever we go, building on the support we've gathered so far."
Mike Gascoyne added his thoughts, saying “The last few months have been some of the most challenging of my career, but it’s been a challenge the whole team and I have thrived on since we first started work on the car up in Norfolk. I’m delighted that we’ve reached this point, and now we have a beautiful car that gives us a great base to work from for the season ahead and a fighting chance of going racing in the right way, with a winning mentality. The hard part starts now, and I know everyone in the team and I are up for whatever lies ahead."
Their testing has had its up and downs, which of course is to be expected as any new team will have things to work on. All three drivers got time driving the car but there were still problems with Kovalinen having a crash at Jerez and Trulli suffering from minor technical issues at Barcelona. However those minor problems aside, both Trulli and Kovalinen are hopeful of a good season. Although the team will be competiting this season under a Malaysian licence, the Lotus group has great prestige in Britian and alike the new Virgin team look well equipped to have a good season where they will be hopeful of scoring points.
The F1 season starts next week and SportTrades are hoping that the team get of to a good start with both Jarno and Heikki both getting the Lotus T127 to the finish. Starting the season with points would be great, but with the established teams looking strong it might be too much of an ask. Lets just hope that the team start the season with good reliability so they can learn more about the car and get some good early season performances.
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