Group Lotus has no plans for F1 move yet

Group Lotus has no plans to enter formula one, despite fighting to prevent its name from being deployed in the category next year.

Tony Fernandes’ Malaysian-backed Lotus Racing entered F1 this year with its name officially licensed by Lotus Cars, the famous British sports car maker.

But with Lotus Motorsport moving into racing next year with the GP2 team ART, it has withdrawn the license from Fernandes, who has instead bought the separate Team Lotus name from 1976 world champion James Hunt’s brother David.

The matter is now in the hands of the courts.

It might be said the decision to withdraw the license was related to Group Lotus’ plans to enter F1 in the near future, but Lotus Motorsport’s Claudio Berro insists this is not the case.

“This is not our decision at the moment because F1 has enormous costs,” he told the Italian website 422race.com.

“I think that, if Lotus is to go into F1, they have to do it at the top and competing with the best teams, unlike this year,” added Berro, clearly referring to Lotus Racing’s current position near the rear of the 2010 grid.

He is not ruling out a change of position in the future, depending on the sport’s regulations.

“Then if formula one will be accessible and the conditions will be there, we will see.  It will be a future step,” said Berro.

 © RIF | GMM