LowcostLOTUS F1
Much like celebrities who get hitched to entirely inappropriate partners, the team formerly known as Toleman has the kind of history that should make any prospective bedfellow run a mile. Lotus F1 is merely the latest in a line of rebrands that has seen Toleman beget Benetton, Benetton beget Renault and now Renault beget Lotus.
Much like many of those those same celebrities, the marriage probably won't last very long, which would be A Good Thing because this name change means that there have now been three distinct Formula One teams called Lotus: the original and best Team Lotus, Tony Fernandes's short-live Lotus Racing and now Lotus F1.
In its favour, the team has brought back to the sport the legendary black and gold livery made famous by the original Team Lotus when it was shamelessly accepting sponsorship from tobacco pushers John Player. Its origin may not be anything to shout - or, perhaps, to wheeze asthmatically - about but the colours undeniably look good on a racing car and it does at least make a refreshing change from "mainly white, with some sponsor logos splashed randomly about". TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper say they are optimistic that having missed the second pre-season test will not be a big setback for them as they prepare for the first race of the year.
The team decided to pull out of the Barcelona test last week after finding a suspected problem with the chassis immediately after Roman Fatjohn had taken to the track and this time the team believed that the problem with the chassis went deeper than the fact that Roman Fatjohn was sitting in it.
The chassis was sent back to the factory for an inspection but was returned to the team at the circuit with a note saying that no damage had been found and that "the sodding great ugly step on the nose is actually meant to be there, unlikely as that may seem".
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