Renault expected to race under a British license in 2011 – Formula 1 news
RenaultF1 changed its official name to Lotus Renault GP after signing a deal with Group Lotus and it seems that it was recently revealed that the team will also race under a British license this season as well in order to forge its identity in the sport.
The team recently revealed its new livery online officially and it seems that the team has changed its colour to Lotus’ colours now and they will have a Black and Golden coloured car in 2011.
Even though the team is officially called Renault, the French car company does not own a stake in the outfit and since Lotus comes from British routes and it is based in Enstone, Oxfordshire, the team decided to change its nationality as a result.
This means that if Renault win a race in the 2011 Formula 1 season, the British anthem will be played rather than the French anthem for the constructors.
“Lotus is an English manufacturer. I have not announced this before, but we will be running under a British licence now. It means that if we win, we will play the British national anthem - and that is important for everybody inside the team. We are rebranding
everything inside the company now,” team principal Eric Boullier told the media.
Vitaly Petrov talked to the media recently and revealed that he would move to the UK from Spain in order to involve himself fully in the team’s car building and testing activities. The Russian recently secured a contract with Renault that is expected to
stay in effect until 2012. Other than that, Gerard Lopez also insisted that Vitaly should move to the UK and go through the English-speaking environment.
“I'm now closer to the factory, and if I need to I can go any time,” Petrov told the media.
However, Petrov is confident about the 2011 Formula 1 season and he claims that he will try his best to ensure his team a good performance this season. He admitted that he was worried and nervous in his rookie season but he is quite comfortable now.
“I was a little bit nervous. It was my rookie year and I knew I had made mistakes, but I also had some good races, so it was 50-50,” he said.
It would be interesting to see how Renault perform in 2011 and let’s hope they win at least a race so that we get to hear the British anthem being played for the French car company for the first time ever.
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