Formula One News: Lotus aims to improve at Silverstone, British GP
Team Lotus celebrated its 500th Formula One race as their car roared across the tracks in Valencia, Spain. As the celebrations subsided, all eyes were glued at the team to perform. The team was waiting to see if Lotus and its crew would be able to revive their lost legacy. However, with a plathora of changes to the team and their car, will this year see Lotus re-grow the legend that they were in the days to come?
Clive, who is the son of Lotus founder Colin Chapman, cheered from the pit wall at the European Grand Prix so that his presence could do the trick. Who were once the leading manufacturers in the world of motorsports, their magical 500th race ended in a disappointing tenth position as the glory and class once attached to the team was no more there.
Lotus was once considered to be the mark of success and triumph and stood as one of the most celebrated teams in Formula One racing. However, the European GP proved that their chequered history was dull and faded in the world of today. The team is not only amongst the most successful teams of the past but is one of the oldest teams surviving under the FIA umbrella till date. With a total number of 500 completed races, Lotus is the fourth most experienced racing team in Formula One racing. Team Williams comes in the third spot with five hundred and forty three races so far. Team McLaren is on the second with six hundred and eight races while Ferrari is the oldest Formula One racing team in the world with eight hundred and two completed races.
Lotus stands proud of its history as it has won the fourth highest number titles with seven in total. They stand behind McLaren that have been able to bag eight titles in total whereas Williams and Ferrari stand at the top two slots with nine and sixteen titles respectively.
Besides all the highs, the team had its share of the lows as well. Lotus suffered some down falls during its early era in the sport. Since 1994, the team has not been able to score any points at all. Moreover, sixteen years have gone by since the team won its last title. The last victory that the team was able to get hold of was twenty three years ago, when it had the phenomenal racer Ayrton Senna in the team.
At the moment, the team has started as low-budget newcomers as compared to the other teams. Despite not having a lot of solid financial backing, the team was able to rise up quickly in terms of a functional base in Norfolk. Moreover, the technical staff led by Mike Gascoigne is also developing fast. A lot of famous names of the state of art had been added in the past few months. Recently, they have added Mark Smith from Force India who would be joining them from 2011.
Last year, the team was aiming to receive some help from the Malaysian government for just a year in order to stabilise themselves. Their base at Norfolk was constructed on a temporary basis as they had planned to develop a technical centre in the Sepang Circuit near Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian Prime Minister announced that very soon, Lotus will be “made in Malaysia, and made by the Malaysians”. However, it was proclaimed that the team's move to Kuala Lumpur had been halted for the time being for re-consideration till next year.
Still, the team management of Lotus is satisfied by their slow yet steady improvement as they say that the team has grown to be faster than Virgin and HRT and have now been able to secure the 10th place in the championship. Moreover, the team has claimed to come up with a major upgrade for its current ‘home' race at Silverstone. Lotus is hopeful that in the next few years, the team if not completely, but partially, would be able to regain its lost glory.
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