Lotus F1

Interesting facts

Lotus F1 Team was not the same outfit as the original, legendary Team Lotus: it grew out of the Renault F1 team after Renault sold a majority stake to investment group Genii Capital at the end of 2009. The team raced as 'Lotus Renault GP' in 2011, then took the 'Lotus F1 Team' name from 2012 under a branding agreement with Lotus Cars. Naming was complicated by the fact that a separate outfit, Tony Fernandes's Team Lotus, had carried the Lotus name under a different licence in 2010-2011; once that team became Caterham F1 Team in 2012, it cleared the way for the Genii-owned team to adopt the Lotus F1 name. The reborn team brought Kimi Raikkonen back to Formula One in 2012 after a two-year absence, and he won on his very return at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, while teammate Romain Grosjean added a win in Australia in 2013. By 2014 a major ownership and management shake-up took place: property developer Andrew Ruhan converted his loans into equity to take control from Genii Capital, Gerard Lopez became team principal and Matthew Carter chief executive. By 2015 the team was in serious financial trouble: Pirelli withheld tyres at the Hungaroring over unpaid bills until barely an hour before the session, and organizers locked the team out of its hospitality unit at the Japanese Grand Prix over unpaid fees. The financial crisis eventually led back to Renault: on 18 December 2015 the French manufacturer bought the team back, and from 3 February 2016 the Lotus name disappeared as the outfit continued as Renault Sport Formula One Team. Lotus F1's Formula 1 history ran from 2012 to 2015, 4 seasons in total as a British team. The team scored a total of 706 constructors' championship points. The team's best season was 2012, when it finished 4th in the Constructors' Championship with 303 points.