Lotus Naming War Comes To An End

 

The Lotus naming row that has been ongoing in F1 between Tony Fernandes (Team Lotus) and Group Lotus (Renault F1) since 2009 has been resolved as Team Lotus are to become Caterhams whereas the Lotus sponsored Renault F1 team will become Lotus.

The naming argument has been ongoing since 2009 when Malaysian entrepreneur, Tony Fernandes, entered a team on the 2010 F1 grid named Lotus Racing under license from Group Lotus. Throughout 2010, the cars raced in their legendary green and gold colors without a hitch as they ended the season outright leaders of the three new teams of the sport. However in September 2010, Tony Fernandes announced that he aimed to return in 2011 with his Lotus cars rebranded as Team Lotus, the official name in which Colin Chapman’s cars raced with between 1958 and 1994. In December 2010, Group Lotus which owns the cars side of the company announced it was becoming the title sponsor of the Renault F1 Team and before you knew it in January there was a court date set in relation to which of the two Lotus teams could use the Lotus name. Some likened the situation to a bus in that you wait ages for one to come along, and two show up at once.

In May 2011 the courts ruled that Tony Fernandes’s Team Lotus could continue using the name but that Group Lotus also have rights to use the moniker if they enter a team in F1. And so we come to todays confirmation by the F1 Commission that Team Lotus have decided to be called Caterhams after Team Boss, Tony Fernandes bought Caterham Cars on April 27th, 2011, and that Renault GP will now be called Lotus.

Some feel that this saga has blackened what was a legendary name of the sport and a name that should’ve been left as it was. Either way next season we will all have to get used to calling the Renault’s Lotus’s and the Lotus’s Caterhams. Confused yet? I am!