Lotus F1 Team 2013

[munudeges]

I'm afraid this Quantum thing is another Qadbak. The money will not materialise you can be guaranteed of that. They need to sign Maldonado if they have any brain cells to rub together.

Put simply, Raikkonen had to get as aggressive as he could otherwise he would never have seen a penny. They would have got a load of championship points and constructors' money for free.

[Pup]

I've read several articles on Ijaz, and about the only thing I can decide about him is that he is a very interesting man.

[anzx]

I wish the team from Enstone all the best, but the best years may be already behind them (2005 - 2006) as Renault, it's a shame Renault sold this team Raikkonen and Renault = World title, I said that in 2006 when alonso announced his move to Mclaren, but looks like it's never gonna happen...

[Scuderia Nuvolari]

After this abu Dhabi weekend i have thought a lot about this.
It reminded me of when Nuvolari had a Maserati that the frame flexed too
Much so he welded some angle iron to it and continued to race it AND win many races.
When he started with alfa, they had three or four entries and told him to finish behind them
Unless there was rain. He would loosen the radiator cap, win the race and
Show his manager(Enzo) the moisture on the windscreen.
In one Mille Miglia he was driving a Ferrari for Enzo and he got horribly sick,
He was vomiting blood and the seat broke. He found an orange crate and sat on that.
Enzo begged him to stop but he refussed.
This man had broken almost every bone in bone in his body for a
Sport that has all but forgotten him and changed their name to the FIA and
Does not recognize his name or even acknowledge his name.
Even when managers (Enzo) used him for their own gain, he RACED.
If he wasn't in a race, he was in a hospital near the last race and couldn't get out of bed.
This was the iife of a true legend.
Where are these legends at today?
Don't get me wrong, i truely love Kimi's style of driving and
Have enjoyed his climb back on the podium.
Kimi if you are reading this, wake up and DRIVE like there is no tomorrow.
LOTUS if you are reading this, wake up and PAY Kimi. NOW

[Jonnycraig]

I'm afraid this Quantum thing is another Qadbak. The money will not materialise you can be guaranteed of that. They need to sign Maldonado if they have any brain cells to rub together.

Put simply, Raikkonen had to get as aggressive as he could otherwise he would never have seen a penny. They would have got a load of championship points and constructors' money for free.

Of course he would've seen his money, he has a binding contract.

[Pup]

There's certainly the possibility that it's another Qadbak, but my take is that this has been a long, drawn out negotiation and the weekend's ordeal simply pressured Genii to accept the current deal instead of negotiating further. Ijaz seems a bit too gleeful over the deal, and if he were just blowing smoke, you'd think Genii would have had something to say about it by now. I can believe Saward's story about the money getting tied up - I'm sure that's a small part of it, but I suspect that was just an excuse by Genii to buy time in the press.

[lillschumi]

Im sure the deal is not done if there ever was one

Some arrangement is done between Bernie, Kimi and Lotus mgmt that Bernie´s TV money is the security for Kimi getting his paycheck at the end of the year. Bernie can not afford a scandal in US so he´ll do everything to get Kimi to the race. There was rumors about staff not getting payed either. I think Lotus way on financing is coming to an end, the only one making money in F1 as an investment is Bernie.

Edit:
Actually someone should start digging into this QuantumBlack, their website gives me the impression of classic scam fasade trying to generate investments. Popping some big names on website but if you follow thru it´s hard to get any statements coming from the actuals "customers" that this firm have done any payed work for them. Often a classic in theese case is that some one have had a meeting or a presentation and that´s enoght to call them "customers".

There is however a company called Quantum Technologies which seems to be legit business. If i was Hulk i would bail and try to stick with Sauber.

[munudeges]

Of course he would've seen his money, he has a binding contract.

I'm afraid contracts, binding or otherwise, mean absolutely nothing when there is nothing in the bank. That's the real world.

[munudeges]

.....however, I don't blame the team in all of this. I blame Formula 1. You've got CVC and pension funds making billions off the back of the sport and you've got a team punching well above its weight well in the top four and rummaging around for ten million here and there. Something is very rotten.

[Jonnycraig]

Of course he would've seen his money, he has a binding contract.

I'm afraid contracts, binding or otherwise, mean absolutely nothing when there is nothing in the bank. That's the real world.

In which case, he sues Lotus, they go into administration or worse liquidation and he as a staff member becomes the #1 creditor and gets his money (or a decent chunk of it) from the sale of the teams residual assets. Either way, he won't miss out.

[Richard]

I very much doubt any drivers are "staff", they'll sell their services via a company ie Kimi Riakennon Ltd registered in a tax haven.

[Jonnycraig]

I very much doubt any drivers are "staff", they'll sell their services via a company ie Kimi Riakennon Ltd registered in a tax haven.

True of course, as is the same for a lot of high powered people in F1, the fact remains though that he will get his money one any or another.

[Richard]

If Lotus went bust, the cash would be shared in this order:

• Secured Fixed charges - I expect the Genii debt would be in this category and they'd be paid first.
• Preferential - The staff (their outstanding saleries and pensions are also partially underwritten by government)
• Unsecured - Most suppliers
• Shareholders

If Kimi's services were provided via a company he'd default to the unsecured category, although I'd expect his accountant/lawyers would have ensured he was covered by some sort of Secured Fixed charge. Otherwise his reported threat of a winding up order would have ensured he got virtually nothing.

[munudeges]

In which case, he sues Lotus, they go into administration or worse liquidation and he as a staff member becomes the #1 creditor and gets his money (or a decent chunk of it) from the sale of the teams residual assets.

I'm afraid you have a very rose tinted view of bankruptcy and liquidation. Under no circumstances would he ever get to the top of the pile as a creditor. A winding up order would have immediately frozen Lotus, and that would mean zilch. Raikkonen has now only got a pay deal because they could restructure and play the accounting shell game.

I don't think you got the part where it was pointed out that there was no money.

[PlatinumZealot]

When Maldonado comes the team will have a net budget increase of the PDVSA money PLUS the salary that they wont be paying Kimi. That's like 30 million pounds a year. That's enough to buy Six Nico Hulkengburgs and I'm sure Nico is not six times better than Maldo. I deffinitely think Maldo is coming for 2014.