THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes believes the iconic company’s return to Formula One after 16 years can help unlock untapped revenue streams in Asia.
Fernandes, who owns Air Asia airline, unveiled the Malaysian-backed team’s car that will start the 2010 championship in Bahrain next month.
“Formula One has been really inaccessible and seemed elitist,” Fernandes said Friday at the London launch. “It’s a fantastic time to come into Formula One because it’s not a global sport yet — you can have tracks all over the world but it really is just a European sport.
“And the revenue they are getting is primarily from Europe, North America hasn’t worked yet and Asia is a huge potential market. Having Lotus with Malaysian backing will really help to spread the sport in Asia.”
While Lotus’s US$86-million annual budget will be funded by a partnership between the Malaysian government and a consortium of the country’s businessmen, Fernandes is freezing plans to move the team from its car factory in Norfolk, England.
Fernandes has revived the Lotus brand, which won 79 F1 races and seven constructors’ titles between 1958 and 1994 before the team collapsed due to money problems.
“It will be great to take Lotus back to where it belongs,” said Italian driver Jarno Trulli, who finished eighth last season with Toyota. “We’ve got a very hard task ahead of us but that’s what we are here for.”
With Trulli and former McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen in the lineup, Lotus is returning as one of four new teams on the grid this season, along with Virgin, Campos Meta and USF1.
Trulli and Kovalainen will be at the test sessions from Feb. 17-20 in Jerez, Spain, and at the Catalunya Circuit in Barcelona from Feb. 25-28.
Lotus is just hoping both of its drivers finish the season-opening race at the Bahrain Grand Prix on March after building a car in only two months.
“We had to compromise in the design, you can’t make things as light as you want to because you just don’t have time,” said technical director Mike Gascoyne, who has held the same role with Force India, Toyota, Renault and Jordan. “One target we have set ourselves is to be the best of the new teams.
“At the end of the season, we need to be racing the second half of the established teams and maybe nicking some points to build for the year after.”