The Renault team has been officially renamed "Lotus-Renault" after Group lotus (that's the car company) bought a stake.
The iconic black and gold livery has also returned
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88616

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"He's a pain in the arse, but he's a quick pain in the arse." - Williams on Mansell

Chapman set up the racing team first (what is now "Team Lotus").

He set up the car company afterwards (what is now "Group Lotus"), the profits of which were to fund the racing team.

Chapman himself split the two well before he died, and the two have been separate ever since. When the car companies was owned by various manufacturers (Toyota, GM, Bugatti, Proton) none of them owned the racing team. When the racing team went bust in '94 it did not affect the car company, and they and their owners were not liable for any of the racing team's debts.

To say that Proton own Lotus is not the whole story - they own one part of Lotus, David Hunt (and now Tony Fernandes) own the other part. The original part.

Team Lotus was the first. It is the original. That it has been dormant for 16 years us irrelevant, it was still a registered company in it's own right Fernandes has at least as much right as Bahar, if not more so.

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"He's a pain in the arse, but he's a quick pain in the arse." - Williams on Mansell

Lotus Engineering was the original part, which was used for road cars mixed with racing. Then 2 years later that Team Lotus was formed. In fact Lotus cars date back to 1948. 6 years before Team Lotus was set up. The racing team was to advertise his road cars. Lotus started F1 competition in 1958 after racing in club and smaller formulae. Single seaters wasn't how they began.

Fernandes is perfectly obliged to call his team Team Lotus. But to compare it to Chapman Lotus is in bad taste. Bahar has more right as he is closer to the Lotus brand than Fernandes is. What's next, Team Lotus planes?

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

Don't see how you can say Fernandes is worse that Proton on that basis. They both own something called Lotus (but only one is allowed to be used in F1.)

No, you couldn't call yourself Lotus in F1... you could call yourself Proton though.

The difference between the two is that regardless of whether you consider it to be related to Chapman or not, one has already established a team called Lotus and now a company with no previous interest in taking part in F1 before is trying to ride rough shod over that.

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Yossarian Lives

If Fernandes has the legal right to call his team Lotus having bought the name then Bahar has zero right to call his team Lotus regardless of what his company is called. Whether it is connected to Chapman is as much of an irrelevance as whether McLaren has anything to do with Bruce.

Besides, the Chapman family don't think it's in bad taste!

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Yossarian Lives

Surely I could call myself Lotus if I wanted to. It would have to be under a different prefix though as my Megatron Lotus proves . Fernandes is Air Asia. Why doesn't he keep to that?

Lotus have been riding through some serious financial trouble. Bahar has been trying to ride that over and finally feels they are in a viable position to outlay some money. Proton have saved Lotus. They licensed the Lotus name for Fernandes in 2010 before he decided that calling himself Team Lotus was a better way of conning the fans.

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

You couldn't call yourself Lotus and race in F1.
You couldn't call yourself Lotus and make cars.
You couldn't call yourself Lotus and make computer software.

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Yossarian Lives

Apart from the fact the only reason Malaysia F1 was only called Lotus because of Bahar in 2010? Lotus cars and Lotus Engineering (The 2 key Chapman business') are Proton owned. They both have as much right as each other to call their teams Lotus. But in my opinion it is bad for Fernandes to link his team to Chapman's because of his plans to relocate to Malaysia. I just think its a con to the fans the way he links it back to Chapman. At least McLaren haven't completely sold out and have grown steadily (With the help of Ron Dennis, an employee). Its a completely different case. Fernandes is different to Ron Dennis in so many different ways (Mainly intentions)

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

That was before Bahar-my landed


No. There's a thing called trademarks - and Fernandes owns it, as has previously been ruled on the numerous occasions Lotus Group have tried to argue it before. See the Apple argument.

Do you seriously think you could go into F1 and call your team Ferrari?

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Yossarian Lives

Bahar joined Lotus as CEO in 2009.

Well, its a case of who was there first and since Fernandes was using the name Lotus under license from a company called Lotus which is now in F1 I think I know who was there first. Not Mr Air Asia 1 Malaysia F1. The Renault engine deal isn't with Team Lotus, its with that Air Asia bloke.

To be fair to him, he is now having to backpedal a bit


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 296324.stm

Having the Chapman hat in a case sends off rather different messages. He is a bit of a joke.

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

Neither team are covering themselves in glory. I'm kinda sick of all this... pity the public can't ask for a 151c complaint to be investigated

When that Air Asia dude is in trouble he calls the cavalry. And like any great leader its the media to start a smear campaign on anyone who has had a single bad word to say about him. Anyone who leaps to his defence (again) like that is a bigger joke than Mr Asia Air.

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

Adam Cooper is reporting that:

...which presumably means they have changed their name with Companies House

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"He's a pain in the arse, but he's a quick pain in the arse." - Williams on Mansell

I beg to differ

http://formulaone.blogs.nytimes.com/201 ... ly-speaks/

Fernandes gave assurances that he wouldn't use the Team Lotus name. So he is a liar as well as a sham.

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

Not really, he'd established a team carrying the Lotus name and then Proton tried to take it away having let him take all the risks of an F1 enterprise. It was the only route left open to him by Proton. Remember, this year Proton tried to make a copyright claim on the Team Lotus brand before Hunt's counterclaim (and it was Hunt, not Fernandes)

Also, the Chapman family are only allowed to use the Classic Team Lotus brand by the grace of Proton (yes, a rather strange oddity) so they have to tread carefully.

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Yossarian Lives

So Proton are happy to let out the name. They have been very generous. They have saved the Lotus name from financial difficulty and are willing to put out the brand and heritage. Mr Air Asia the businessman he is sees an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon with as little cost as possible

So, back to the main point. The Chapman's support Group Lotus and one of Air Asia's only claims have vanished.

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

Yes they took something away that was already their's in the first place

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13