La cuestión se vuelve cada vez más compleja si pensamos que la decisión de la corte había prohibido utilizar las palabras Lotus y Team en el mismo nombre de un equipo de F1.Renault, deja de tener acciones en el equipo, y a su vez llama al chasis y al equipo con su propio nombre, pero también comparte con Lotus el nombre, y añade el apostrofe de Gp pues es la única manera de que no se relacione al equipo con su pasado con lo de Singapur y asimismo no pueden emplear la palabra "F1" en su nomenclatrura si no va acompañada de la palabra "Team", cosas de Ecclestone para proteger el uso de los derechos comerciales de la marca, supongo.
There will be a new partnership on the F1 grid next year as Group Lotus, owned by the Malaysian government via Proton, has bought a stake in the Enstone based F1 team, creating Lotus Renault GP.
This deal, which sees Lotus come in both as an equity partner alongside Genii Capital, the teams’ main shareholder, and as the main sponsor of the team, has been mooted for many months now and was finally signed off at the start of this week. In addition to a stake in the team, which is open ended, Lotus will be the title sponsor until at least 2017.
A photo with proposed livery has been issued and the car switches to the iconic black and gold of the JPS Lotus days from the 1970s. This was an idea that Tony Fernandes announced for Team Lotus for next year and he ran a fan competition to design the livery.
So without any of the liability of running its own team, Renault is still getting a lot out of this deal and there is a financial consideration for this, but nothing like what it used to spend. To the man in the street it will look like Renault is still heavily engaged in F1 and will benefit from any success the team accrues.
Viry will also collaborate with Enstone on gearbox and KERS development and will work on the preparation of the new generation of small capacity eco F1 engines for 2013, due to be announced by the FIA later this week.
There is a wider business angle to the partnership. Lotus and Genii will collaborate on road cars, with Genii offering Lotus access to its the network of automotive technology companies it owns, which specialise in variable compression engine technology as well as vehicle systems and in-car VOIP and internet technology. Also central to the deal is that Genii with its extensive operations in Russia will give Proton a way into the Russian market, which will help Vitaly Petrov’s claims on a race seat next year.
The naming of the team as Lotus Renault GP, represents a fresh start. The team will not use “F1″ in its team name for two reasons; it is not allowed to use the words “Team” and “Lotus” in the same name and FOM stipulates that any team with “F1″ in its name has to also have the word “team”. Second the management wants no association Renault F1 team, after all the difficulties of the last two years over the Singapore crash scandal.
This game of poker now leaves Tony Fernandes to make the next move. He has entered next year’s world championship as Team Lotus and has a contract for Renault engines. The entry states that the chassis will be Lotus Renaults. So there is a confusion which does not work for either party or for FOM or the FIA. The issue needs resolving as experienced F1 sponsors I’ve spoken to indicated that any prospective sponsors will be reluctant to engage with the team while there is uncertainty hanging over the brand.
There is still still a court case on this to be heard at some point in 2011, but this really needs resolving before the season starts.
So it will be interesting to see what Fernandes does. His initial reaction on Twitter today was, “Dany bahr (sic) has done us a favour. Never felt better about our future and Team Lotus. Looks like the trying to hijak our black and gold idea.”
As a side note, under UK law, a 25% shareholder in a company can block the sale of the company if it does not want to sell to the preferred buyer of the majority shareholder.
y aquí las palabras de Boullier:
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/lotus-renault-owned-by-genii-capital-boullier-29858.html
Lotus Renault GP team manager Eric Boullier made some recent comments to clarify the ownership scheme of the Enstone based organization, now that French manufacturer Renault is out of the picture. At the end of the 2010 season, Renault decided to withdraw its factory support from the squad and focus on engine supply only, after which Group Lotus stepped in to help former co-owners Genii Capital maintain their operations alive.

However, when the 7-year deal between the
two companies was announced in December, there were no details about Group
Lotus's involvement in the new project. It's still unclear whether the British
carmaker is a shareholder or a sponsor of the Enstone team. And Boullier now
moved to clear that up.
“Renault decided to re-focus its resources in F1 and sold its remaining 25 per cent to Genii Capital,” said Boullier.
And Autosprint also reveals that in fact Genii Capital investment firm is in total control of the team, with Lotus Group having a clear sponsorship role in the operations. However, this may change in the upcoming few years, with Lotus Cars potentially becoming a shareholder in the team.
Talking about his new challenger for the 2011 F1 season, the R31, Boullier confirmed that its launch will happen one day before the Valencia test kicks off, yet admitted he's not sure whether the racer will incorporate the Magneti-Marelli KERS system from the get go.
In related news, it appears that 25 engineers belonging to Group Lotus' Malaysian carmaker owner Proton will be sent for two-year engagements to work at the F1 team, as reported by the GMM news agency.
“It's a good way to get fresh ideas and a new way of thinking,” said Boullier.
y aquí las palabras de Boullier:
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/lotus-renault-owned-by-genii-capital-boullier-29858.html
Lotus Renault GP team manager Eric Boullier made some recent comments to clarify the ownership scheme of the Enstone based organization, now that French manufacturer Renault is out of the picture. At the end of the 2010 season, Renault decided to withdraw its factory support from the squad and focus on engine supply only, after which Group Lotus stepped in to help former co-owners Genii Capital maintain their operations alive.
“Renault decided to re-focus its resources in F1 and sold its remaining 25 per cent to Genii Capital,” said Boullier.
And Autosprint also reveals that in fact Genii Capital investment firm is in total control of the team, with Lotus Group having a clear sponsorship role in the operations. However, this may change in the upcoming few years, with Lotus Cars potentially becoming a shareholder in the team.
Talking about his new challenger for the 2011 F1 season, the R31, Boullier confirmed that its launch will happen one day before the Valencia test kicks off, yet admitted he's not sure whether the racer will incorporate the Magneti-Marelli KERS system from the get go.
In related news, it appears that 25 engineers belonging to Group Lotus' Malaysian carmaker owner Proton will be sent for two-year engagements to work at the F1 team, as reported by the GMM news agency.
“It's a good way to get fresh ideas and a new way of thinking,” said Boullier.
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