Lotus F1 Racing

Lotus F1 Racing is a Formula One team often referred to as 1Malaysia F1 Team due to the name of the company that runs the team. It gained entry into F1 after BMW announced its withdrawal from the sport at the end of 2009 and is part of the '1Malaysia' project initiated by the local government to promote unity between Malaysians.

Despite its name, the Malaysian team has nothing to do with the original Team Lotus inaugurated by Colin Chapman. It's only related to the Lotus name is due to the fact that Proton, the owner of Lotus cars is an investor in the project. The team itself finds its origin in the Litespeed F3 team that approached Tony Fernandes after it failed to get into Formula One on its own.

The team is initially based at the RTN (Racing Technology Norfolk Ltd.) facility in Norfolk, UK, 10 miles (13 km) from the Lotus Cars factory. The team’s future design, R&D, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose-built at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit.

On 14 December, the team confirmed Trulli and Kovalainen as its race drivers, partnered with Fauzy as their test driver. A deal was also done with Cosworth to provide its engines while XTrac will build the gearboxes.

Although the team is initially more than 2 seconds behind the pace of the slowest of the established teams, Lotus early presents itself as the quickest of the new teams. In early June 2010, the team also proudly announced new signings in its technical departments and is bound to switch car development towards 2011 early on in the 2010 season.

Cars

All Formula One cars of Lotus F1 Racing

Car designation	Race years
Lotus T127	2010