Renault’s R31 soon to hit the track
Along with some of the other leading Formula One teams, Renault has also announced to launch its 2011 car ahead of the first pre-season test, to be held on February 1st, 2011. The team proclaimed earlier today that their new package will be unveiled
in Valencia on January 31, at the Spanish circuit.
After having undergone so many changes in its structure, the team is looking forward for a challenging 2011 season ahead. The car’s livery, the team’s sponsors and above all the team’s name has been changed before heading towards the next season’s grid. Last
month saw the tying up of the famous car manufacturer, Group Lotus with the French team, Renault. As per the deal, Lotus has become the title sponsor of the team for the upcoming season, thus Renault F1 will be seen on the next season’s grid as Lotus Renault
GP.
Moreover, the team has also decided to change its livery for the next season. This year saw the team’s car painted in yellow colour; however Lotus brings along its legendary colours, black and gold. The combination is one of the most popular one ever in
Formula One history as the Ayrton Senna’s car was painted in same shades.
Although, the dispute of team name, ‘Lotus’ is still not resolved between the Group Lotus and Tony Fernandes’ team Lotus, yet the colour issue was settled earlier. Fernandes announced last month that even though he had a strong desire for the iconic livery,
yet he did not want to enter into another dispute over it. Hence, he decided to go forth with yellow and green paint on its 2011 car. The news was a relief for the race fans as seeing two teams with the same name and same colour would have been very confusing.
Renault’s next season’s car, R31, will be driven by the same driver line-up as seen last year on the grid. The Polish driver, Robert Kubica was signed by the team for another year immediately after the end of last season for showing some spectacular races.
On the other hand, although the team took a long time to decide Vitaly Petrov’s status, but finally the drivers as well as the management are happy to be together for another season. The convincing factor for the team to continue with the Russian was the heavy
sponsorship that he brought along from his country for 2011 season.
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