{"id":18957,"date":"2013-08-06T07:13:08","date_gmt":"2013-08-06T11:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/?p=18957"},"modified":"2013-08-06T07:13:08","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T11:13:08","slug":"lotus-struggling-with-money-problems-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/formula-1\/lotus-struggling-with-money-problems-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Lotus struggling with ‘money problems’ – reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Troubling signs of financial weakness are emerging from Lotus.<\/p>\n

\"Eric-Boullier-2\"The authoritative German website motorsport-total.com reports that, although in the hunt for the 2013 title, the Genii-owned outfit is “struggling to survive” under EUR 120 million in debt.<\/p>\n

For example, although Kimi Raikkonen is second only to Sebastian Vettel in the chase for the drivers’ championship, development of the 2013 car is apparently all but over.<\/p>\n

Asked also about rumours of ‘money problems’, leading Lotus engineer Alan Permane admitted to Auto Motor und Sport: “We have not much more in the pipeline for 2013.<\/p>\n

“What was planned has already been developed and will be used in the corresponding race,” he added.<\/p>\n

It is a worrying sign for a team fighting for a world championship, and pushing to keep lead driver Raikkonen on the books for 2013.<\/p>\n

Indeed, amid rumours Red Bull and Ferrari are bidding to sign the Finn for 2014, Raikkonen admitted mere days ago that he is still waiting to be paid.<\/p>\n

“This happened last year, now again so it is not ideal,” said the 33-year-old.<\/p>\n

Lotus owner Genii announced in June that a consortium called Infinity Racing has bought 65 per cent of the Enstone based team.<\/p>\n

But reports soon followed that the deal is not actually done, with the subsequent delay having left Lotus – and Raikkonen – waiting for the money.<\/p>\n

“We are going to reorganise the financial process of the company,” team boss Eric Boullier is quoted by the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.<\/p>\n

“We are expecting a large financial investment, which is part of the team’s future plans.<\/p>\n

“There may be some delays, but it will be repaired within a few days.\u00a0 It is part of the discussions and we will give Kimi all the answers,” said the Frenchman.<\/p>\n

Boullier said he is hopeful the money issue will not cause Raikkonen to jump ship.<\/p>\n

Asked how close a deal is, he insisted: “We are not very far from it.<\/p>\n

“The package that ensures the future of the company is completed slowly, but we’ll get there.<\/p>\n

“He will get all the answers and be able to take a decision within a few weeks.”<\/p>\n

\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Troubling signs of financial weakness are emerging from Lotus. The authoritative German website motorsport-total.com reports that, although in the hunt for the 2013 title, the Genii-owned outfit is “struggling to survive” under EUR 120 million in debt. For example, although Kimi Raikkonen is second only to Sebastian Vettel in the chase for the drivers’ championship, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[251,5262,5340,127,152,60],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18958,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18957\/revisions\/18958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}