After some great PR side-stepping and question dodging by Tony Fernandes and his team on what the team could be known as in 2011, a report has emerged suggesting that ‘Proton 1Malaysia’ has been touted as 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.
Source: GMM
