Tony Fernandes: “We’re fighters, don’t underestimate us”

This guy is so funny.. a real CLOWN in a suit

Yes we all Malaysians made a horrible mistake..

We are sorry...

BECAUSE WE ALL OVER-ESTIMATED YOU !!

duh !

Managing an F1 team its not like managing a Maggi Mee Artist or wat..just be patient guys! So kiancung aa u all? cannot wait aa? terrible laa u..everything want fast fast..f**k also u want fast..haiyah! winning its not easy maa! data on race track also not complete yet..u talk with ahbeng motorsport tune your car can laa!

Better he shuts up... more he speaks more he is seen trying to defend a bad decision. A decision that marks the beginning of the end of Lotus

Mike Gascoyne arrogantly said - every team "he" joined, has got on the podium within 20 races of him being there -

wait 20 races ??? Lotus will close shop by then... That if Lotus can even podium within 20 races

Podium so what? no ones remembers you unless you are top 3 finishers of the season.

"Every team "you" joined ..." - Wah Mike you take all the credit alone ? Since you so good, why you not with the top teams now ?

Mr. Najib please order Tony to TAKE OUT THE MALAYSIAN FLAG!!

Only you are fighters?

The others like McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, RedBull... all sitting around doing nothing waiting for you to play catch up ??

You take Malaysians as idiots ???

What is up with you people ?? How about some support ?? You may make noise that the rakyat's money is involved.. but its already done.. pulling out of it will only make Malaysia look worse than it already is...

Ya'll poke and jibe Tony... But he's a great businessman and every great businessman knows that success doesn't come overnight... Tony has given the team 3 years to do well... I think that's a fair timeline for a relatively new upstart with a Cosworth engine...

Compare to Ferrari and Mclaren... Please don't make a fool out of yourselves... Ferrari is as old as the grand prix itself and Mclaren has some of the best technology that our modern age has to offer....

What else?? Where are the Malaysians in the team ?? Hello... there are Malaysians that work in other F1 teams who are based in places like Germany... They were approached but refused the offer... They have families to feed and Lotus is new and its future is still uncertain.. They are not going to risk their families well-being for their own self-satisfaction.. Any family man will do that...

What else?? Why fly the Malaysian flag ?? This is marketing at its highest level... Nearly a billion people tune in to watch F1 and now nearly a billion people know about Malaysia.. When they come visit us with their ultra strong currencies they benefit us and ultimately you... Lets see you whine and complain when your pockets are full... I bet you will still complain cuz you want a billion over the million that you already have

I think complaining and whining wont get us anywhere !! How about some patriotism.. I think all you selfish "I-love-to-complain-about-everything" and "I-detest-everything-Malaysian" should be stripped out of your citizenship and sent to different countries where racism is more prevalent.. Where the threat of everyday bombings are real... Where you are nothing more than a immigrant... I believe even then you wont stop complaining...

Im all for Malaysia being at the pinnacle of world motorsport whether it be at the back or front.. Im all for Lotus.. If in three years Lotus doesn't do well then you complain.. For now.. If you don't have anything nice to say.. Shut up..

I'll K.I.S.S :

1. Its hard to give support when it isnt due.

2. It is because of the * its done already there's nothing you can do about it* thats annoying, now they will practice it even more often. Do First, Think later.

3. Those people rejected the "OFFER" because they can see where the team is going. And since they have families to feed, you get my point. Maybe you should preach Patriotism to them.

4. Marketing at its highest level. Right. IF it pulls through, good, pat themselves on the back. If they do not... OH HEY ITS ALREADY DONE SORRY. Marketing plans backfire often... its a double edged sword.

5. I am not a “I-love-to-complain-about-everything” and “I-detest-everything-Malaysian” i just live in the present and have sound head on my shoulders to see logic.

6. Why compare us with war plagued countries, you should always compare us with better countries, that way we can improve, if you always compared to yourselves behind you, Cool, stay and wallow on your comfort zone while others surge ahead.

7. If you cannot accept constructive criticism, too bad.

and I'll counter...

1. support not due ?? how do you justify that ??

2. What do you suggest we do now that we are in this already??

3. Where is the team going and How do you know ??

4. It is a double edged sword.. Agreed.. But everything is a risk.. If you don't do you never know..

5. I don't understand.. What is the logic ??

6. War plagued countries ?? Okay lets look at developed countries..

USA - Don't even need to say...

Britain - Bombs on buses.. Numerous terrorists are based there and come up with evil plans to blow up Britian at any opportunity...

Japan - Chemical attacks in subway stations ...

Spain - Bombs on trains and the same ..

Canada ?? Too cold...

Switzerland - Good luck trying to be that ...

Where else ?? Singapore ?? Please... I'd rather live in Johannesburg... At least I can spit and fart at will ...

7. I love constructive criticism and these are my thoughts...

Styles has a point... Criticism has a limit... The boys at Lotus do deserve some support from their own home fans ...

I LOVE Tony Fernandez

He brings

1) Indonesians maids to my home

2) Banglas to my estates

3) and most importantly ... China Dolls to entertain me

Isnt that what AirAsia does ?

HAHAHA

hehehehe... roflol... got us there...

keshy: nice points
mamasan: really-really nice points

who is that mikey?

Tony Fernandes = Successful businessman. Millionaire

U guys who are so bitter = small fry. Whatever u say in this site does not matter. Why dont u write an email to him personally instead

Even teams like torro rosso or force india took long time to get where they are now.

U think teams like wolves in the EPL can win the title just after getting promotion ar ?

Interesting interview piece. From the article:

"I'm from the music business: You take a little girl from a factory and six years later she's a mega star - then she forgets where she came from and becomes a pain (laughs)"

He's talking about a local 'Dangdut' star named amelina (not sure spelling) right that was big a few years back.

Tony Fernandes is the pseudo 'father of dangdut' in the local music scene. Why he likes 'dangdut' so much must be an interesting story.

real malaysian sounds like a really stupid malaysian,i would agree with keshy and styles,come on dont compare experienced teams with lotus f1

still thinking how much tax payer money + GLC co. throw it for this team in next 3-4 years....in the slogan '1MALAYSIA BOLEH' (if tak boleh pun kasi boleh juga laa) SIC organise events since 1999 also still request money from M'sia Gov. for maintenance & repair...

what with him 'OWNING' lotus?

thats erroneous big time. who owns lotus? proton. who license the brand 'Lotus' to be used by those bloke at Litespeed? proton. get it right tony.

and ah, even Lotus F1 racing or whatever its called, not YOURS. i having nothing against tony, hes a great guy with connections everywhere, so credit where its due. however, i doubt it if he able to do real Branson job here. branson did not have powerful friends in government. tony had. and still has.

again, i am not against tony. but i am AGAINST him projecting himself to do the very same job (which is excellent job) as Branson did. thats misleading. of course the world know whos the bright ones, but the way he telling bluffs like that angers me.

i wonder whether he really call the shots at Lotus F1 Racing. or those geeks at Litespeed tell him to do this and that? again not against him, but he HAS NO TRACK RECORD on racing. let alone F1. dont tell me got no track record can do as well learning etc etc. this is serious business and let the experts do the calling. let gascoyne space and work his wonders. in meantime i would appreciate it if tony can go learn some tricks here n there.

i am really proud of Lotus F1 Racing, even tho the fact still remains that the real team is Litespeed. and i really wish the team can be all malaysians, meaning we'll get the whole crew malaysians and be based here in malaysia. i also want us to get some points and eventually challenge the others. Red Bull started in 2005 and start winning so many times within 4-5 years. of course they got newey and actually the team was Jaguar, but they got the hammer down and work their asses off.

and i believe Lotus Racing can do the same.

but with tony at the helm, and kicking up these steams, i had to say something. unfortunately.

lol. Thaksin can do a better job than Tony.

yeah he is full of crap and self praise

takes 100% of AirAsia success to his business acument ! he is from recording warner music background for pete's sake

In the background, pulling the puppet strings in AirAsia are Kalimulah, Kamal Badawi and Pahamin to get all the extended favors from the govt. Everything from fuel subsidy via Petronas, airport discount from MAHB, LCC terminals built for free ... the list goes on. Many not aware.

Tony you were suppose to take a portion of MAS local routes as a precondition of AirAsia license agreement.... but you shove it back to MAS after 3 months knowing MAS had to do local route as national service to Malaysian citizens as those were loss making routes ... If not for MAS we will be swimming to Sabah Sarawak etc !!

His biggest success?? .... making MAS the scapegoat and bad boy in the process ...and bad mouthing MAS

I may like AirAsia as a Malaysian company, but No, i dont think much of him. Nor "his" marketing talk about Lotus.

He is a OKB ( Orang Kaya Baru) and needs to learn more from successful Malaysian like Ananda Krishnan... be low profile and humble; and thank the real people that help - i.e the Malaysian Govt !

drMpower,

You run the risk of spreading the wrong facts. Let set the record straight.

1. Tony is co-owner of this F1 team regardless of what name it races under. In this case they've called themselves Lotus Racing. So Tony owns Lotus Racing, the F1 team. He does not own Group Lotus, which is owned by Proton. Neither does Proton own Lotus Racing, the F1 team. Group Lotus and Lotus Racing are two independent businesses. The link between the two is via the 'Lotus' brand association but they are separate entities. Tony is free to do whatever he wants with Lotus Racing and he may stake whatever claim he wants on Lotus Racing, provided it is not in conflict with the Lotus brand rights of Group Lotus.

2. Tony and the rest of his shareholding partners 'call the shots' in the team. The team is not controlled by Litespeed. The technical side of the team is controlled by Mike Gascoyne himself and the group of people he hired. He leads that area and if you actually read the article link you would not say "let gascoyne space and work his wonders" because that's exactly what Tony has allowed Gascoyne to do.

3. Tony has no track record in racing and thats actually fine because he's got Gascoyne. As team principal Tony needs track record on running a business and he has plenty of that. The bottom line is the F1 team IS a business.

The only flaw I see of Tony is his PR as a team principal. He is saying the wrong things to the public but he is getting better at it. The proper running of the team as a business is more important and he knows what he is doing.

race fan,

Tony co-owns Lotus Racing but Proton doesn't?

teo,

Correct.

Further to this, Proton owns Group Lotus while in Lotus Racing(owned by Tony) Proton is just a commercial sponsor. They key is to understand that Group Lotus and Lotus Racing are two very separate entities with no link in ownership

Previously I thought Lotus Racing is owned by a Malaysian gov-backed consortium which includes Tony, and Proton.

race fan,

i would admit to TWO half right, perhaps inaccuracy of my earlier posting. one is the ownership of the Lotus F1 Racing team. the other is, i am really really really against the antic of Tony.

ownership.

if i had written hes the co-owners of the team, surely u wont be slating me at all. infact i am half right. hes not the SOLE owner of the team. he shares the ownership. but the fact remains. the team - apart from malaysian guys - are consist of Litespeed people. u know whos the malaysian gus are. so if like the team is 100 people, that leaves u 95% of it are Litespeed, or so to speak.

i dont know what line drawn on that 'tony has every right to do whatever he wants with the team', but the fact that hes not the sole owner of the team, does not mean he has every right to do whatever he desires. theres money and stakes involved. team principality is his because of some non racing reasons.

the calling shot thing.

what i meant by this is that, the racing time calling shot. meaning if anything has to do with the racing -either the strategy or team preparation. tony is from dangdut scene as mentioned by one of the people commenting here. so, in racing term he does not know anything 100%. according to Eric Boullier, Renault F1 racing team principal, the job is about two aspects - one is the management of people. u gather personals that can bring the team forward. second is to be able to understand the nature of the sport in every aspect.

Tony obvious lacking both of that. first, the 'team' he 'gathers' are Litespeed people. i dont know who bring Mike Gascoyne in, but i doubt it is Tony's. perhaps those Litespeed people are very close to Mike that they sort of 'bring' him in. hes a great great mind of F1, that is indisputeable. second, understanding the nature of the sports in every aspect. do Tony looks like he know that? or even he sounded like he know any of that? the answer is NO.

Stefano Domenicali joined Ferrari after his graduation, appointed as Race Director, Scuderia Ferrari's Team Manager, and the Director of Ferrari F1 team. then F1 Team Principal.

Martin Whitemarsh was McLaren's Head of Operation, Managing Director (racing and sponsorship), CEO of McLaren's F1 division before being appointed Team Principal.

Sir Frank William. i dont need to write anything about this guy. as well as Ross Brawn.

Christian Horner was a racing driver, and was the team principal for Arden Motorsport (GP2 series competitor)

Dr Mario Theissen was the BMW motorsport director, head of product's concepts of BMW, Director of Advanced Drivetrain and Director of BMW Technik GmbH.

very extensive the CV of those people i mentioned above. the reason i wrote those is because i wanted to HIGHLIGHT the technical knowhow of those people and the ability of them to gather a group of people to drive the team forward.

pity Lotus only got a former dangdut singer's manager or something, as the team principal.

drMpower,

I still don't understand why you're adamant that Litespeed is running Lotus Racing.

Who are the Litespeed members in the team? Most of the Lotus technical team members are people with existing F1 experience.

Who brought Gascoyne in? It was Tony though orginally when Litespeed was the bidding for the entry Nino Judge introduced Tony to Gascoyne etc. Eversince Litespeed rejected entry it was Tony and Gascoyne who went ahead. It was in Silverstone last year that Gascoyne and Tony met.

As for who makes the calls during the race, it is NOT the team principal. Neither does Vijay Mallya at Force India. It is the people that have the experience that makes the calls. The race engineers are the ones that make the important lap by lap strategic race decisions with Gascoyne overseeing them.

race fan,

i've seen u mentioned Nino Judge. so u know something about the originality of this Lotus Racing F1.

I shall refresh all, about the originality of this Lotus F1 Racing.

Litespeed Racing is an F3 outfit that applied for 2010 racing place alongside the other newcomers. but the problem rises when they called themselves Team Lotus. Since u mentioned Nino, then u definitely know that 'Team Lotus' was Nino's and Steve Kenchington's idea.

Then come the real Lotus which is owned by Proton. obviously they are not happy with Litespeed guys using 'Team Lotus'. and possible legal avenue were exercised. the real Lotus does not want anything to do with it, including its brand to be use. i suspect this where Tony came and pull some strings. its a win-win situation i guess. najib and malaysia got something. litespeed can compete. tony got something. kamarudin meranun and gang got something. naza, proton got something. and viola.

in the meantime, 'Team Lotus' had announced (even before the 'Lotus' brand licensing negotiation) that they would be using Cosworth engine and chassis DESIGNED by a certain former Toyota and Renault technical director. which HAPPENED to be Mike Gascoyne. he led a team on that chassis development.

u are completely off radar on this subject, race fan. i dont know what transpired during tony's and gascoyne's meeting as u mentioned, but that guy, gascoyne was THERE even before the entry was rejected!

i am adamant that Litespeed guys are running Lotus F1 Racing because it is true! i would like to post a link to another automobile journo in malaysia which mentioned this,so that u can see it for yourself, but i am afraid it is not possible in zerotohundred. its not nice i mean.

as i mentioned before, they are an F3 outfit, with experts in the racing fields, similarly to the established F1 teams. except for aerodynamics and gearbox, of which they will deal with FondTech and Xtrac respectively. they did put up job advertisement sometime earlier this year, looking for engineers and IT guys etc etc, but i doubt it they can run the car if they only hiring beginning this year. its not logic. everyone within F1 world know those crucial jobs are filled by engineers and Litespeed people.

as for making the calls, again, of course the engineers report this and that. but the racing strategies and all were discussed before the race and decided upon with meetings with the teams, including drivers and team principals. during races it just a matter of executing the plans altogether.

look, i have nothing against the team. i wish them all the best.

it just tony keeps saying this and that which does not bring any weight whatsoever. the way he projecting that hes the man also making me puke my breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper altogether.

what i am asking from him, since he is the team principal (for reasons that no related to racing) then act like one. stop talking about yourself. mention more about the team. and please, speak and sound like a man with brain.

I never said Gascoyne was not in it right from the beginning and certainly wrong if I made it sound that he joined the party late.

Yes Gascoyne was part of it when Litespeed proposed their entry in the beginning. They even got Tony in the mix then for obvious reasons, they needed Malaysian support as Lotus is a Malaysian owned brand. Litespeed's bid got rejected and the dynamics of the project changed before Tony and co resubmitted their entry.

The 'real lotus' if there was such a thing, had no intentions to get into F1. I presume 'real lotus' implies Group Lotus.

It was also David Hunt that expressed disapproval to the Litespeed team. Hunt is the rightful commercial owner to the 'Team Lotus' brand for use in F1, not Group Lotus.

I still disagree your insistence that Lotus Racing is a Litespeed run team. Please prove it. I want to know as well. So far you seem to be connecting dots and 'extrapolating' basing it on some local journo comments. Do share the link. I'd like to know because malaysian journos no nuts about F1. Only sports journo Arnaz from NST know anything about the sport. If the comments came from him, then there could be some truth to it. Anyone else should be disregarded. If you say 'an automobile journo' said it, I'm even more skeptical. They cover the auto industry, not the sport of F1. If you're afraid to reveal the link maybe you can provide some cryptic hints... ;)

It was MGI that put out the advertisement for jobs in Europe AFTER the FIA granted the entry. The timing coincided with the full page ad that appeared about the same week in the local dailies, initiated by Tony's local office.

MGI is Mike Gascoyne's company. I don't see why he would need help from Litespeed at this point. He is an 'independent contractor' He is not Litespeed like Nino Judge and Steve Kenchington.

Like I said I disagree with your opinion that Lotus Racing is 'Litespeed in disguise' but am yearning to be proven wrong. So please do.

Tony, please.........no need to talk big, saying the are fighher la, warrior la, etc. No need singing song, no need to pledge and holding up your right hand and stuff.


I'm a Malaysian too. But I don't be patriotic for the sake of patriotic (blindly).

I give support to the country if they are worth it, or that are due. I can think, and I am entitled to have my own opinion too.


Just proof with racing result. Easy as that. 2010 F1 is still long way to go. Anything can happen. One or two accident happen, your drivers may be OUT from the game. Your team will be turmoil. Who's gonna drive?

You, the fighter?

well race fan,

u can always proceed to paul tan's web page and browse for Litespeed or Lotus F1 Racing team. u may have to use the search function for browsing.

he had covered the subject quite extensively. and i am at the mistake on that automobile journo thing. he is an auto blogger or something like that.

drMpower

LOL Paul Tan.

I have been following his account of the team from day one. He is just reporting what he finds elsewhere online and I know he mentioned Litespeed very early on etc but you can contact him and he will tell you in no way what he reports is authoritative. What he reports was just representative of what others was reporting at the time but still no way close to definitively conclude that Lotus Racing is Litespeed in disguise NOW.

It is NOT.

race fan,

if paul tan is considered 'non authoritative reports' by u, i'd like to know your source(s) of argument regarding the matter so that we both can agree that Lotus F1 Racing is NOT Litespeed in disguise as well. but the numbers that adding up shows otherwise.

of course he is not the authorized blogger or representatives of the team or anything. i dont know what his reporting method or any source he took for his blog, but as far as the fact matters, he not been off the mark. and he has been considered reliable credible and responsible by many others.

if authoritazion is the main big thing here, then the only way u can stand up in this 'friendly fire' is by giving me white documents from Lotus F1 Racing themselves. it must be from them because any other than that, its gonna be tic for tac and this will never end. and we both know that the team dont blog.

i consider this a fundamental element in redirecting my thoughts and knowledge upon the team if i proved to be incorrect. so does if u are proven to be wide off, then u should be agreeing with me on this matter.

but atleast we mentioned the similar names, that responsible for the team since the beginning. and we also agree on Gascoyne to be right there from the beginning. we both realized that the team is being co-owned by several parties.

and most importantly we both know that tony is there for NON RACING related matters.

Dont bother debating tiz issue...

Bottom line...

Lotus F1 headed by Tony sucks - any which way you flip it

drM,

My point is only ONE and still only ONE.

1. I disagree that Lotus Racing is Litespeed

I would rather give them the benefit of the doubt because I don't subscribe to "guilty until proven innocent" mentality.

From my postings you must surely have figured out by now that I am very 'close to the action' without being in Lotus Racing itself and certainly am from the industry itself. I suspect you're somewhat close too but to what degree I don't know, but likely on the fringes. From my position there is not enough evidence to conclude that they're Litespeed short of asking Gascoyne or his bosses.

I have no problems with you and me taking different stances. You saying "they are Litespeed until proven otherwise" while my stance is "Lotus Racing until proven Litespeed"

If you base your facts on what you read on the net than God help you and i think this discussion will end here. You don't even know who is behind 'race fan'. It could be a senior race team member or a 15-year old motorsport fan! Such is the nature of everything on the net.

Yes, Paul Tan is NOT authoritative especially when it comes to racing. His credibility is for automotive reporting. Because he is a blogger the auto industry did not even consider him as 'mainstream press' until more recently. He has solidified his reputation as an AUTOMOTIVE member of the press. Mainstream refers to printed press, with an office, that can be held accountable and sued when they commit false reporting.

You can query Paul Tan himself on his reporting of Lotus Racing. His email is paul at paultan dot org. The industy is small and everyone knows each other on a personal basis, not online.

I have my fair share of criticism of Lotus Racing and Tony but I draw the line when it comes to hearsay and speculation that potentially may tarnish one's reputation. I have been on the receiving end and i know how it feels like when unfounded stories(lies) are spread of you just because someone who feels they are a little smart try to connect dots with imaginary lines which ends up destroying people's hard work.

You may ignore everything I have said so far but I hope you don't ignore this one essential point I am trying to make:

If you are not 100% certain about a story yourself, first hand verification, please don't spread the story ESPECIALLY if it can cause damage to reputation. Thats how defamation suits come about.

intimidation exists. but i am not expecting it coming here. defamation suits are very popular in one southern red dot down there, ruled by yellow skin Lee. poor that jeyaretnam. if only he gone ball licking...

very very very close to the action and still cannot provide anything that might silent me and the others forever?

very absurd.

but whatever it is, u see, as an academician, i'd love to be proved wrong. and by providing relevant documents to dispell my thoughts on the matter, would do everyone good. although the citations i gave, not 'scientific enough' (and have some authorization issue as mentioned by u)- certainly not the level of my doctorate dissertation - but if u care to google it, then almost all would tell the same story.

i used my God give thinking brain to come at the point of Litespeed people are running Lotus F1 Racing. plus some readings on the articles on the Net. and u based ur argument on.... NOTHING. completely nothing.

thats a mark of dictatorship. but not all dictators are bad. Garibaldi for example, was a good one. Idid Amin, according to himself, ruled Uganda 'because it needs him'. Ceausescu, again, according to himself, made Romania safer place. So does Kim of Korea.
But the best of them all is Mao. his legacy swarmed almost all Chinese, including those staying outside China, till now.

oh what i've done. too much bubbling.

nevermind, i shall draw the line here.

What i see (the dumbf**cks who criticizes) in here, i see sh*tloads that ya'll have nowhere to put, guess ur own home, is way too filthy already then the sh*t that u have, thus u got nowhere than free internet news page that u put it down. These little idiots can talk, talk, and only talk. These are the people's we should get rid in our life. They don give constructive ideas, they don hold good opinion about anyone and they might even complain bout their wife to the buddies at work. One thing, try to be in ppl's shoes, then u know. i guess give u to handle a cubprix also, u will shit at the spot wher ur team's bike supposed to finish. You idiots who just write eveything that u read in internet, can get lost la. How sure are u that everything in news is right?? Hello, things can change okay. i'm also helping u, u tell this sh*tloads to ur nerdy officemate, maybe he will "huaa" at you, but when u try to show u know everything in the net, like race fan said, "defamation suits"??

last but not least, if u monkeys think ya'll know it all or your opinions is the best, or u are SOMEBODY wit money and power to talk all the way, the what the f*ck u doin in this forum?? aren't u supposed to be counting money wit one of ur mistress beside??

If u can't accept the fact that this little country is trying to grow up and see indian in the progress, seriously go f**k yourselves la, u still in stone age and will always be.

Mate, I TOTALLY AGREE WITH UR WRITING.

but the last part seems be a bit harsh.. should have the spirit of 1Malaysia mate. =)

But sometimes it is true. they wouldn't mind if its Mr Ngeh, Lim or Mista Vincent.
these people keep on bashing, moaning n eFFing up everything that they think its BS. well, this is the new Malaysia.
too bad most of this so call thinkers are here in town with Pc's..
Damn..

Please, everyone learn from this post. Spanish can be such a great language to learn, not to mention it is the current language of love :). Anyways keep up the articles and post I love them and will keep coming back to this site. Thanks