Will Lotus return to F1?

[mason]

In the last few years there have been various rumours to the effect that Lotus would be returning to Formula 1 competition but with the costs of running even a mediocre team soaring while the tobacco companies -- major sponsors of most F1 teams -- are coming under ever greater pressure to limit their advertising role in sports, it seems unlikely that Lotus would ever be able to secure the financing that would be required to return them to their former role as a constructor.

Toyota's announcement in 2000 that they would take the 12th and final vacant spot on the grid and field their own team from 2002 onwards looked like it might end the speculation for good as once the grid was full it would be virtually impossible for any other team to enter Formula 1 without either partnering with an existing team or buying them outright. 2002, however, brought its own surprises and the collapse of both the Prost and Arrows teams created two more empty spots and the poor results and shaky finances of a few other of the smaller teams means that this is still a possibility.

It is also possible that -- even if they don't form a new team themselves -- Lotus could have some future involvement in F1 where they could bring their considerable engineering expertise to the assistance of one or more other teams as an engine supplier or technical partner. Malaysian car manufacturer Proton was said to have been considering joining Formula One now that it's home country had its own Grand Prix. Proton, the owner of Lotus Cars, would doubtless call upon Lotus' experience to help put together an F1 project.

"With Malaysia getting the GP, we are totally committed to the future of F1 and we want to make sure that Proton is a part of that," said Tengku Datuk Mahaleel, President of Proton. "The fact that we now own Lotus is very important, and will form part of the discussion, and we cannot underestimate that. We will already be involved in F1 next year by supplying some support cars, but we will definitely be analysing if we could race."