Lotus F1 Team 2013

[Donuts]

There are only two necessary steps: Red Bull hiring Ricciardo and Ferrari not hiring him (which I suspect won't be difficult). Pity some super deal didn't help them to keep Allison and some others.

+1

He's stuck with Lotus for 2014. And I doubt that they'll have a winning car in 2014. I'm even thinking there's a chance he just quits F1.

Wild speculations.

[xDama]

/delete

[Richard]

oops ....

...

Which appears to be a significant deal and I can easily speculate that this is a much needed step to retain Kimi. Well done, Lotus.

There are only two necessary steps: Red Bull hiring Ricciardo and Ferrari not hiring him (which I suspect won't be difficult). Pity some super deal didn't help them to keep Allison and some others.

There are only two necessary steps: Red Bull hiring Ricciardo and Ferrari not hiring him (which I suspect won't be difficult). Pity some super deal didn't help them to keep Allison and some others.

+1

He's stuck with Lotus for 2014. And I doubt that they'll have a winning car in 2014. I'm even thinking there's a chance he just quits F1.

[zonk]

https://twitter.com/Lotus_F1Team/status ... 16/photo/1

https://twitter.com/Lotus_F1Team/status ... 12/photo/1

[iotar__]

Now they lost de Beer. Another success story at spending the money in the right areas (e.g. driver salary):
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109844

Ferrari has now two technical directors: Fry and Allison and two heads of aerodynamics - de Beer and Bigois.

[Richard]

It reminds me of my local football team. They had a bright young youth team that moved into the senior squad with good results. They then brought in some big name players for that final push to number 1. To cut a long story short they couldn't afford the big players, the club went into melt down. All the bright young talent was sold off.

We can see the same with Lotus, they had a great season with home grown talent, bought in a big player for a push to the top... then ran out of cash ... home grown talent left.

I'm not sure we can entirely blame driver salary. The driver may catch the headlines but he is probably a symptom of living the dream (ie overspending) in other areas too. It'll be interesting to see their company accounts for 2013 and compare employee numbers, salaries, operating expense, etc with previous years to see if the spending did jump up.

I struggle to understand how sponsorship has dropped considering the much higher profile in the last year or two.

[stefan_]

https://twitter.com/tgruener/status/378543161267589120 Seems like Lotus is moving to Ferrari and Ferrari to Lotus. I would make a documentary covering the migration of the F1 specie's members.

[iotar__]

These are not normal changes that happen all the time in F1, it's one-sided exodus and one that doesn't look like the planned one when they already have replacements and it doesn't disturb work. Especially Allison's departure in the middle of the season, very different to Lowe's in a way that destination wasn't known, contract signed etc. Especially in the light of his reaction to McLaren rumours in the beginning of the season, Allison said it was all about competitive car, and preparations for 2014, maybe he changed his mind or maybe these requirements weren't met. If money was the issue they should have paid him more - cars justified that.

Hard to call de Beer some home grown talent that bigger player bought, he's been around forever, it's very much related to Allison building the team there and these two are not the first ones. If finances are not the reason what is exactly? Not related to driver's salary, like delays in payment earlier to cover points bonuses? These were directly related. They chose very costly time to overpay a driver, costly new engines, costly preparations to biggest change ever, we'll see how it works for them in 2014.

[munudeges]

If you don't get a driver who's getting the points, and Raikkonen certainly is despite what certain deluded people think, then there is no results. If you want to blame someone then blame Bernie. It's a damning indictment on the state of Formula 1 when a team fighting for at least one championship and well in the top four ahead of McLaren has to survive on shareholder loans.

Ferrari has now two technical directors: Fry and Allison and two heads of aerodynamics - de Beer and Bigois.

That will be remedied pretty quickly - in fact it already has been. They had the wool pulled over their eyes with Fry as I said when he went to Ferrari.

[munudeges]

There are only two necessary steps: Red Bull hiring Ricciardo and Ferrari not hiring him (which I suspect won't be difficult). Pity some super deal didn't help them to keep Allison and some others.

+1

He's stuck with Lotus for 2014. And I doubt that they'll have a winning car in 2014. I'm even thinking there's a chance he just quits F1.

Wild speculations.

Wild speculations based on nothing more than hoping Raikkonen doesn't do well. Pretty bizarre.

[Kiril Varbanov]

https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/stat ... 1951454208

[munudeges]

They're effectively swapping teams, mostly because Ferrari is poaching so many Lotus people that the old Ferrari people have nowhere else to go. The new Ferrari technical recruitment policy is to look at a team that's punching well above its weight, year after year, and to poach them. It doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

[Cold Fussion]

It's amusing how Ferrari took the talent out of Benneton in 1996 to become competitive, and now almost 20 years on they're doing exactly the same thing, to the same team.

[MOWOG]

It's a damning indictment on the state of Formula 1 when a team fighting for at least one championship and well in the top four ahead of McLaren has to survive on shareholder loans.

I agree strongly with this statement. Despite all the rapture in some circles about how great and wonderful Formula One is, the foundations of the sport are quaking. Some observers suggest that as many as three teams will not participate past the end of this season, due to economic strains. That would leave only 16 cars on track. How successful is the sport REALLY when its structure permits only 8 cars to be competitive - at most?

In another thread, a member suggested that roughly 2/3 of the money FOM rakes in should be split evenly among all the teams, with the balance apportioned on the basis of constructor's championship points scored. And ending the idiotic extra helping that Ferrari extorted from Bernie some years back.

In my judgement, the sport stands on the brink of a cataclysmic implosion. Their business model is simply unsustainable. It reminds me of the economic frenzy that gripped the US real estate market prior to 2009.

Check back with me in 2 - 3 years to see how accurate my prophesies turn out to be.

[ringo]

It reminds me of my local football team. They had a bright young youth team that moved into the senior squad with good results. They then brought in some big name players for that final push to number 1. To cut a long story short they couldn't afford the big players, the club went into melt down. All the bright young talent was sold off.

We can see the same with Lotus, they had a great season with home grown talent, bought in a big player for a push to the top... then ran out of cash ... home grown talent left.

I'm not sure we can entirely blame driver salary. The driver may catch the headlines but he is probably a symptom of living the dream (ie overspending) in other areas too. It'll be interesting to see their company accounts for 2013 and compare employee numbers, salaries, operating expense, etc with previous years to see if the spending did jump up.

I struggle to understand how sponsorship has dropped considering the much higher profile in the last year or two.

I think as long as the points gained by the driver, more than covers his salary at the end of the season, then it might be worth getting the big name driver. So i guess it's how many points more Kimi got than Romain, and what money F1 rewards the teams for those points.
But on the bright side, i think Lotus have a few decent drivers they can select from. Hulkenberg is available and Maybe Heiki.