F1 - 2011

LONDON (Reuters) -- Renault SA has sold its remaining stake in its Formula One team to Luxembourg-based private investment firm Genii Capital, which is already the team's majority shareholder.

The Renault F1 team will race as Lotus Renault GP next year under a long-term partnership with Malaysian-owned sports car company Group Lotus plc, the companies announced on Wednesday.

"Group Lotus plc will subsequently become a major equity partner in Lotus Renault GP, which it will co-own with Genii Capital," the team said in a statement.

Confusingly, unless there is a further name change by their opponents, Lotus Renault will be competing against the existing Team Lotus -- also Malaysian-owned and also powered by Renault engines.

Both plan to race in new black-and-gold liveries harking back to the glory days of the late 1970s when Colin Chapman's original Lotus team was winning races and championships.

Team Lotus, which made its debut this year as Lotus Racing and is owned by aviation entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, is at odds with the Lotus Group owned by carmaker Proton in a battle over the use of the brand.

Fernandes claims the rights to Chapman's Team Lotus name, which has been kept separate from the car company of late.

The dispute is currently heading for the High Court in London, although the new season will be well under way before any hearing.

Strategic Alliance

"We're well aware that there has been a lot of controversy around the usage of our brand in F1 and I'm delighted to be able to formally clarify our position once and for all: We are Lotus and we are back," Lotus Group CEO Dany Bahar said.

Genii said the announcement was part of a strategic alliance between the two companies "that will provide Group Lotus with significant technological and commercial opportunities for its range of road cars.

"Following the return of the Lotus name to Formula One in 2010, under license from Group Lotus, this historic announcement marks the complete return of the Lotus manufacturer to the sport, with the full backing of its parent company Proton," it added.

The title sponsorship agreement will run until the end of the 2017 season and Renault will continue to supply engines, technology and engineering expertise.

"We will continue to enjoy a strong relationship with Renault over the coming seasons," said Renault F1 Chairman Gerard Lopez.

Renault F1, with Poland's Robert Kubica partnering Russian Vitaly Petrov driving, finished fifth in this year's constructors championship.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101208/ANE/312089968/1317#ixzz17XB4ANkI

 

opcorn:

 

Its all very confusing at best and hard to believe that there will be two completely seperate teams with Lotus in the name with almost the same livery....one would have to think that when all the legality is finished that one will be forced to give...

On a side note; with all this involvement with Renault could there be a motor change coming for the Lotus street cars???

Love to see Lotus cars with a little more go go in the trunk!

 

By the way the article reads sounds like it's two dualing business concerns battling over the Lotus name and Renault engines I think Scott hit it on the head ......... opcorn:

 

Red Bull v. Torros Rosso?

 

Good point on the Renault engines replacing Toyota.....

 

Except Red Bull Racing is a chassis maker just like Benetton back in the day. Toro Rosso is a chassis builder as well.

Red Bull GmbH owns Red Bull Racing and sponsors Toro Rosso. It's a get around to have two teams in the F1 Field. Seems a bit like they use the Toro Rosso team as a "Jr Leauge" for drivers (aside from GP2 of course).

Admittedly the similar paint schemes have been confusing to me during races though.

 

LONDON (Reuters) -- Formula One is unlikely to have two rival Lotus teams on the starting grid next season despite heading that way at present, said Renault team owner Gerard Lopez.

Former champions Renault announced on Wednesday that they would be renamed Lotus Renault GP in 2011 with Malaysian-owned sports car maker Group Lotus joining as title sponsor and eventual co-owners.

The move, following French manufacturer Renault SA's sale of its remaining 25 percent stake in the team, pits them against Renault-powered Team Lotus entered by Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes.

The dispute over the use of the Lotus name is heading for the London High Court sometime next year but Lopez said he expected it to be resolved before the start of the season in March.

"As far as having four (Lotus) cars next year on the grid, I don't think it's going to happen," he told Reuters in an interview.

"I tend to be a positive person, so I would say that nobody has anything to win from this -- except maybe Group Lotus as having four cars running for the same brand and only being involved financially in two of them.

"The natural course of things should be that whoever is the Lotus brand should race as Lotus and whoever isn't, and actually had asked for a licence to do so, should race as something else," he added.

"I'm certainly not going to be the one standing and making that decision because I have no power to do so... (but) I don't think there are going to be two teams of the same name and four cars of the same color."

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101210/ANE/312109999/1193#ixzz17ipL4n6P

 

Maybe this should be in a new thread, F1 - 2013

F1 Officially Announces Turbo 1.6-Liter Four-Cylinders For 2013

The grid has been all a-bluster with talk of the coming engine changes for 2013 for months now, but today, it's official: the 18,000 rpm, 2.4-liter V-8 is now on its deathbed in Formula 1, its 12,000 rpm 1.6-liter four-cylinder turbo replacement announced today for the 2013 season. The goal: a "greener" series, cutting fuel consumption by 35 percent.

Of course, a 35 percent improvement in F1 engines equates to about 1 mpg, but that's a significant amount of emissions and fuel across 24-26 cars and about 20 races, practice days, and qualifying sessions.

The new engines will be limited to a maximum of 12,000 rpms--still a rather high figure for an engine with two-thirds the displacement but only half the cylinder count of the outgoing V-8s. In addition to turbocharging (which isn't specificaly mentioned in the release, but is expected), the engines will feature high-pressure direct fuel injection at up to 500 bar, or 7,252 psi. Gasoline is still the requisite fuel.

Energy recovery systems and "additional energy management" will also play a role, meaning KERS is due to come back, though likely in a heavily revised and evolved form by the time the 2013 season arrives.

For those afraid to see turbos and four-cylinders in F1, look back to the early 1980s when manufacturers like BMW managed to extract 900+ horsepower from 1.5-liter turbo fours on 55 psi of boost with a redline around 11,500 rpm--very close to the specs of the 2013 engines, but with another 20 years of technology to draw on. Even better: some of those engines were turned up to 80 psi of boost or more for qualifying, generating as much as 1,300 horsepower. From a 1.5-liter four-banger. In the 1980s. Yeah.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG-4sSoXlaM]YouTube - Bmw f1 turbo engine from the 80'[/ame]

 

I'm going out to whiz on my engine. How many HP can I expect to gain? If I repeat the application will the HP keep going up. Is there a limit to the gains from whiz?

Great find Nathan. Amazing info there.

 

I've been reading about this for a while now, and I wondered exactly what Nathan wrote - about the only way to keep the HP down will be to mandate the maximum amount of fuel used, or the maximum boost - like CART used to do. Since F1 now controls the ECU, it would seem easy to control the boost levels too along with RPM and fuel usage.

But then, what's the point?

New motors that are all exactly the same, making within 5 hp of each other - back to spec series and billions of $$$ spent on Aero to try and get that tiny advantage.

 

Spec series F1. Now that is sad. Might as well run FF or FV & just paint them the appropriate color to suit the sponsors.

 

Read elsewhere that they were wanting to limit the motors to around 550 HP and then for up to something like 27 seconds a lap have another 150hp available from the kers system..... more rules, more money to be spent in development..... more Bernie.

I'm sure a 1 MPG savings in F1 will rescue us from the ravages of globel warming.....

 

There is a critical point at about Gee Whiz that there is no more gain to be had.....

 

The cancellation of the controversial team-orders rule is one of the key changes to the 2011 Formula One regulations revealed by the FIA on Friday.

However, the FIA has reminded teams that Article 151c--concerning bringing the sport into disrepute--could still be used. In other words, a move like that made by Ferrari last year in Germany, which caused a public outcry, could still be investigated.

The FIA has approved a number of other changes to the 2011 regulations, many involving penalties and their application, although some have yet to be fully clarified. Among them is a stricter control on flexible front wings via better deflection tests, while the safety-car rules have been addressed once more. Further detail is expected at a later date.

The changes outlined are as follows:

-- The article forbidding team orders (39.1) is deleted. Teams will be reminded that any actions liable to bring the sport into disrepute are dealt with under Article 151c of the International Sporting Code and any other relevant provisions

-- Amendments to the list of penalties stewards are permitted to apply

-- Revisions to driving and driver conduct

-- A limit on the width of the fast lane in the pits

-- The introduction of a regulation permitting the race director to close the pit lane during a race for safety reasons

-- The re-introduction of intermediate tires for 2011

-- Penalties to be applied to any driver who fails to use both specification of dry-weather tire during the race

-- An amendment requiring gearboxes to be used for five consecutive races, instead of four

-- Clarification on when cars can overtake the safety car

-- A refinement to the principles of the regulations already agreed concerning moveable rear wings

-- A better definition of the reference plane, and reinforcement of bodywork deflection tests, especially at the front of the reference plane

-- The allowance for anti-intrusion panels to protect drivers' legs

In addition, the following amendments were made to the 2012 Technical Regulations:

-- Team communications will be made available to broadcasters

-- The inclusion of fuel compounds produced from biomass

-- A limitation on suspension uprights


Read more: Formula One: FIA abandons team-orders rule for the 2011 season - AutoWeek Magazine

 

WOW.........

A few good rules changes followed by the inevitable totally stupid ones. Why was I hoping for anything different.

ut: