- Lotus
Lotus out to beat Manor in 2010
ESPNF1 Staff
December 10, 2009
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Lotus' car is currently under development in the wind tunnel © Lotus
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Lotus team boss Tony Fernandes has pledged his team will beat the Virgin backed Manor team in its debut season in Formula One.
Lotus, Manor, Campos and US F1 will all be new additions to the grid in 2010 but Fernandes, who previously worked under Sir Richard Branson at Virgin, said he was totally dedicated to beating Manor.
"I said that number one we have to be ahead of Branson, otherwise I will retire and kill myself," he said at the motorsport business forum. "We think we are going to have a very reasonable car. We know we aren't going to be competing [near the front] in year one, but it takes time and we'll have a good basis for moving forward."
The new teams will all be running on low budgets next year as they signed up to the sport on the back of the FIA's budget cap proposal - which eventually morphed into a resource restriction agreement. Fernandes said he will run Lotus on a budget of £55 million and couldn't understand how teams spend almost three times as much in a season.
"Obviously at one stage we were ready to put a team out at £40 million because that's what we were told the cap was going to be," he said. "Obviously we're in favour of having less money to build a car but it's still exciting. I am still confused as to where all the extra money goes when you have a team with £150 million. I'm still trying to understand my £55 million."
He added that his team will eventually enjoy a closer partnership with Lotus road cars, which currently lends its name to the team but does not own it.
"We have a licensing agreement with Lotus owner Proton and over time that relationship will grow," he said. "Lotus will probably buy into the team at some stage. More and more technology from our side will flow into Lotus cars and we will promote the Lotus brand. I see it in time being no different from how Ferrari works."
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