Tony Fernandes has admitted he would have liked corporate Malaysia to have backed his formula one team.

The Malaysian entrepreneur founded a UK based start-up team in 2010, calling it Team Lotus before a bitter spat developed with the Lotus name’s owner Proton.

“While I was building a formula one team, I was being sued by my own countrymen,” he told The Star newspaper.

“We’re the only true formula one team developed in Malaysia.”

Now called Caterham, the team’s only Malaysian sponsorship is from AirAsia — Fernandes’ own low-cost airline.

“Never mind that we were not sponsored (by Malaysia), that’s a company’s prerogative,” he said. “But, we were sued.”

Some have accused Caterham of not having progressed much since 2010, but Fernandes strongly disagrees.

“Two years ago we had nothing. We’re now 1.5 seconds away from Red Bull who are the world champions. We’re closing the gap.

“You can’t build Rome in a day,” he insisted.

F1′s Enstone based team will keep the ‘Lotus’ name until at least 2017.

It emerged late last week that the sponsorship agreement between the team formerly known as Renault, and the Proton-owned carmaker Group Lotus, has ended.

But the team will at least keep its new chassis name for the foreseeable future, the French sports daily L’Equipe reveals.

“We are pleased to keep the name,” said team owner Gerard Lopez, “because it’s a great brand for F1.”

Group Lotus confirmed: “The F1 team uses the strength of the Lotus name to promote themselves, and in return Group Lotus benefits from F1 exposure and the ambassadorship of its drivers.”

The carmaker confirmed that the “financial arrangement” between Group Lotus and the F1 team has ended.

L’Equipe said the Genii-owned team is currently in talks with a major North American company about becoming the new title sponsor.

Group Lotus will no longer sponsor the formula one team that bears its name.

But – as F1′s perpetually bizarre ‘Lotus’ saga takes another twist – the Enstone based team, formerly Renault, will continue to be known as Lotus in the coming years.

Last year, and in 2010, ‘Lotus’ was the name of the team that is now called Caterham, but a bitter dispute soured that relationship as the Proton-owned car company Group Lotus ended the naming license and made its own bid to enter F1.

Group Lotus’ new foray blossomed in 2012 with Renault’s renaming to Lotus, amid speculation team owner Genii was keen to get more involved with the iconic sports car marque.

When asked recently about his team’s relationship with Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen answered clumsily on the Top Gear motoring programme: “Well it’s, er, it (the car) is not a Renault. Lotus is just a sponsor.”

The Autosport website revealed on Good Friday that the sponsorship deal has been “terminated”.

However, “We are happy to carry the Lotus name as we believe it is a good name for F1,” explained team owner Genii’s Gerard Lopez.

“So Lotus are still Lotus despite no longer being sponsored by Lotus?” the Telegraph’s Tom Cary wittily surmised on Twitter.

And in yet another twist, Lopez refused to rule out a scenario in which Genii actually takes over Group Lotus.

“We don’t know yet, because we really do not know what the new owner wants to do with it,” he said.

 Group Lotus owner Proton has denied the British sports car maker is being sold to formula one team owner Genii.
Last week, Lotus boss Dany Bahar failed to quell speculation that Genii, the Gerard Lopez-led owner of the Enstone based Renault team, is poised to take over its title sponsor Lotus.

“I can only say this,” said Bahar, “when we made the announcement about our involvement in Lotus Renault GP we made it clear that this was the start of a close relationship and this journey continues.”

But Group Lotus owner Proton, the Malaysian carmaker, this week denied the Genii rumours with a media statement.

“Proton hereby states that the alleged moves between Group Lotus and Genii Capital are untrue and that the reports are highly speculative in nature,” it read.

Tony Fernandes has revealed for the first time that Group Lotus has offered to settle the F1 naming dispute out of court.
The parties are fighting over Fernandes’ right to use the ‘Team Lotus’ name he bought from David Hunt for his Hingham based team in 2011.

Group Lotus terminated a license for Fernandes’ team to use ‘Lotus Racing’ last year, before the famous Proton-owned sports car maker decided to enter F1 as title sponsor to Renault.

“I considered doing a deal, but the one they offered me would have bankrupted us,” Malaysian Fernandes, whose team is testing privately at Valencia on Friday, is quoted by the Norwich Advertiser.

It is reported elsewhere that the deal offered was less than US $10m.

Instead, the saga has descended into a ‘he said, she said’ tit-for-tat, with fans now facing the prospect of two Lotus teams on the grid this year before a High Court ruling.

“It’s petty,” agreed Fernandes.

“I think we should all grow up and let the courts decide, and at the end of the day we honour the courts.

“I said I didn’t want to say anything any more, but they keep making statements. I can’t just say silent.”

This year’s Team Lotus car is called T128, not TL11 as was previously announced.
“Why the change of name?” wrote team boss Tony Fernandes on Twitter. “Because we are continuing with history. We are a new dynasty but tradition contiunes.”

Last year, the team – then called Lotus Racing under official license from the Proton-owned carmaker Group Lotus – raced its 2010 car with the T127 designation.

T127 was the continuation of the original Lotus team’s traditional vehicle designation system, and it was thought that the reversion to TL11 for this year was to avoid yet another clash with Group Lotus amid the naming dispute.

Indicating that the designation of the 2011 car was an issue right until the T128′s reveal very early on Monday morning, the launch magazine made no mention of the two variations.

Renault is not ruling out a grand prix debut this year for its new reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy.
The Malaysian, who has switched with the Group Lotus-owning carmaker Proton from Team Lotus for 2011, appeared on the Friday morning at a few grands prix last year.

Closely aligned with Proton, the 28-year-old could be promoted for a race debut towards the end of the season, Lotus Renault GP team boss Eric Boullier reportedly told Malaysia’s Star newspaper.

The report said Frenchman Boullier advised that “if Fairuz did well at some point in time towards the end of the season, he would give him a shot at it”.

“He (Boullier) added that it all depended on Fairuz himself on whether or not he made it as a F1 driver as there were many emerging talent around,” added the Star report.

Boullier said: “He (Fauzy) is being developed and trained for better things with us and is not going to be a passenger. He has potential and we need to work on him to make him mentally and physically ready for such sport.”

Boullier added that the details of Fauzy’s contract are being negotiated now.

Meanwhile, Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin denied that Renault had ‘pinched’ Fauzy from Team Lotus just one year into a five year deal.

“There was no pinching him before his contract expired or any other dealing prior to that. We are all professionals,” he insisted.

Eric Boullier has moved to clarify reports about the ownership structure of the Enstone based F1 team called Renault.
French carmaker Renault SA recently sold its remaining shareholding in the team to the Luxembourg based Genii Capital investment company, a report in the Italian magazine Autosprint explained.

There has been some confusion about whether new sponsor Group Lotus has already bought a share of the team or whether it merely intends to in the future.

The Autosprint report clarified that Genii in fact currently owns 100 per cent of the team.

“Renault decided to re-focus its resources in F1 and sold its remaining 25 per cent to Genii Capital,” team boss Boullier confirmed.

He said the long-term agreement signed with Lotus is essentially for sponsorship at present but that it could “lead to Lotus Cars becoming a shareholder” at a later date.

Meanwhile, Boullier revealed that while the R31 car will debut at Valencia next month, he is not yet sure if Magneti-Marelli’s KERS system will be fitted to the car at that stage.

And it has emerged that 25 engineers belonging to Group Lotus’ Malaysian carmaker owner Proton will be sent for two-year engagements to work at the F1 team.

“It’s a good way to get fresh ideas and a new way of thinking,” Boullier said.

Fairuz Fauzy will be reserve driver at the Renault team in 2011.
The 28-year-old Malaysian left the same role at Lotus Racing just one year into a five-year contract, raising suggestions the deal was tied in with the team’s official naming license.

Indeed, after revoking Lotus Racing’s name license, Group Lotus and its Malaysian carmaker owner Proton signed up with Renault, which is now called Lotus Renault GP.

Fauzy will also race in 2011 with the GP2 team Super Nova, whose cars will feature significant Proton branding.

“We will focus on Fairuz’s progress and evaluate his capabilities to be a race driver for us,” Renault team boss Eric Boullier said, according to the Bernama news agency.

Group Lotus will also be involved in GP2 this year with the newly-renamed Lotus ART team.

A French commentator said last week that he expected Romain Grosjean to be Renault’s third driver in 2011.

As the Lotus dispute rages on, Tony Fernandes has hit back at Dany Bahar’s claim that the parties did not unite in F1 due to his “ridiculous and absurd” demands.

Bahar, Group Lotus’ CEO, had responded to journalists’ claim this week that the logical solution was a deal with Fernandes rather than the confusing prospect of two warring teams both called Lotus in 2011.

The Swiss had gone so far as to reveal that Fernandes demanded “three times” the money that has ultimately been invested in the Renault deal.

“Interesting to read Dany Behar’s comments about wanting to work with us, don’t think anyone here noticed that!” said Team Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne on Twitter.

The Briton’s boss also slammed Bahar’s claims.

“The thing that has annoyed me most is Dany Bahar implying we wanted too much money and that Renault was a third of the cost of what it would have been to do a deal with Lotus Racing,” Fernandes told the BBC.

“They have been quoted saying they are spending in the region of 15-20m (pounds) a year on Renault, which implies we asked for 45-60 million. That’s more than our entire budget,” said the Malaysian.

“We were never close to an offer and it’s completely untrue to say we requested three times what they’re paying Renault.”

The worsening war-of-words between the two Lotuses has highlighted the need for a resolution, and Bahar said this week he is confident the two Malaysian sides – Group Lotus owner Proton and Fernandes – want to avoid a deeper battle.

“We are pragmatic,” said Fernandes. “There should be a solution, but we should also do what is right for the brand.

“Our licensing agreement was unceremoniously terminated unlawfully and at any stage we would welcome a way to sort this out. But it’s got to be equitable and respect what we have done,” he insisted.

“If they (Group Lotus/Proton) come off their high horses, who knows?

“I’d say it’s highly unlikely but three months ago if you’d said Group Lotus would be sponsoring Renault, I’d have laughed at you. It’s a branding disaster,” added Fernandes.

Proton intends to push ahead with a partial takeover of the Enstone based formula one team Renault.

Previously, it was believed the Malaysian carmaker was only in talks over a potential title sponsorship, with Renault F1 to be renamed after the Proton-owned British sports car maker Group Lotus.

But Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, who is Proton’s group managing director, told the Malaysian newspaper The Star that Proton is in fact negotiating to buy 25 per cent of the Renault team before the start of the 2011 season.

“Yes, that’s the intent,” he confirmed. “A decision will be made soon.

“We’re close, just wait for a few days,” added Zainal. “(The) 25 per cent (shareholding) is something that we are discussing.

“It’s still too premature to disclose the exact percentage but it has to be a position where we can control our brand,” he said.

‘Proton 1Malaysia’ has been touted as a possible new name for Tony Fernandes’ formula one team in 2011.

Currently, the team currently known as Lotus Racing is locked in a dispute with Group Lotus, who intend to separately enter F1 next year in collaboration with Enstone based Renault.

That raises the messy possibility of two teams being called ‘Lotus’; a situation that now involves the courts and also the Malaysian government, part-owner of the Group Lotus parent and carmaker Proton.

The proposed new name for Lotus Racing was published by The Advertiser, a regional UK newspaper close to the Norwich headquarters of both Fernandes’ team as well as Group Lotus.

It would be a tidy solution to the current dilemma, probably involving sponsorship for Fernandes’ small team to compensate for the lost FOM revenue due to a name change, and clearing the way for Renault F1 to be renamed Lotus-Renault in 2011.

And Fernandes’ team “will become a flagship Malaysian constructor hoping to build on tenth place in its first season”, said the report.

The identity of the F1 team currently known as Lotus Racing moved further under a cloud on Thursday.

The team’s official naming license has been withdrawn by the Proton-owned Group Lotus, and Tony Fernandes’ alternative plan to be called Team Lotus by buying that separate name is now subject to court proceedings.

Meanwhile, Group Lotus is expected to enter F1 in collaboration with the Enstone based Renault team in 2011, and the sports car marque has now announced a project to supply engines and bodywork in the Indycar series from 2012.

“We want to compete with the big buys,” said CEO Dany Bahar.

A GP2 project for 2011 has already been put in place by Group Lotus, all of which leaves Fernandes with little option than to adopt an alternative identity for his privately-owned UK based Malaysian team.

“I do not want to comment on Proton’s move to enter F1 but their action certainly will have some bearing on the team name,” admitted Lotus Racing chief executive Riad Asmat.

“For now, we are preparing our team and we want to be ready for any eventualities.  We are definitely going to be there when the (2011) season starts,” he is quoted by the Malaysian newspaper The Star.

Tony Fernandes on Monday admitted he is not ruling out a name change for his formula one team in 2011.

The Malaysian is locked in a bitter naming dispute with Group Lotus and its carmaker owner Proton.

He has bought the ‘Team Lotus’ name from David Hunt, but Group Lotus has retracted the official ‘Lotus Racing’ naming license because it reportedly wants to enter F1 next year with a separate project.

Fernandes admitted in Abu Dhabi that he wants to keep using the Lotus name but sounded reluctant to let the dispute spill into court.

“So we are going into final stretch of name change,” he wrote on his @tonyfernandes Twitter account on Monday. “Do we keep or do we start brand new identity(?). Please let me know.”

Fernandes also ‘re-tweeted’ a reply from a follower who said “I hate Dany Bahar”, a reference to Group Lotus’ chief executive.

French commentator Jean-Louis Moncet wrote in his Auto Plus column at the weekend that Fernandes is open to dropping the Lotus name if he is paid out by Group Lotus or the Malaysian government.

The team’s technical boss Mike Gascoyne said in Brazil a week ago: “For me, the job I do doesn’t alter if the name changes.”

A contract formalising the sale of French carmaker Renault SA’s minority shareholding in the Enstone based formula one team will be signed on Wednesday.

That is the claim of the Paris daily Le Figaro, revealing that the buyer of the 25 per cent share is Proton, the Malaysian carmaker.

Without naming its sources close to the transaction, the newspaper said Proton’s Group Lotus brand will then become the title sponsor, in a EUR 30 million per season deal over five years.

Renault SA president and CEO Carlos Ghosn would not comment on the report except to say: “We’ll be there next year and in future seasons.”

But Le Figaro said the carmaker will actually only be an engine supplier to the renamed Lotus-Renault, Red Bull and the Malaysian team currently known as Lotus Racing in 2011.