Formula One news
Lotus: We have a shortlist of drivers
15 September 2009Lotus F1 Technical Director Mike Gascoyne has revealed that the team is eyeing several drivers ahead of the legendary name's revisiting of the sport next year. The Malaysian-backed squad, which has been allowed use of the Lotus brand by owners Proton, has been selected by the FIA as Formula One's thirteenth team.
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| Gascoyne was last employed in F1 as Force India Technical Director last year |
With BMW having pulled out of F1 but revealed on Tuesday to have been bought by Swiss firm Qadbak, it was beaten to its place on the grid by Lotus. As the FIA attempts to see the team formerly known as Sauber become a 14th entry, Lotus rejoins F1 for the first time in 15 years.
Heading the team, which will be based in Norfolk but hopes to open a new facility at Malaysia's Sepang Circuit, will be Tony Fernandes as Mike Gascoyne returns from a year's sabbatical to the role of Technical Director. Having explained that the Malaysian Prime Minister revealed the forming of the team on Tuesday, Gascoyne spoke of possible achievements.
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| Malaysian Alex Yoong drove for Minardi in 2002 |
"I think we will be launching the car late, and that has reliability aspects, but I still think, with the work we've done, that we will target being the best of the new cars on the grid," he told the BBC. "That's a very clear initial target, and realistic, and I would hope by mid-season that we are challenging the bottom rung of the current teams and I think that's achievable."
No drivers have yet been selected although Norwich-born Gascoyne admits that several are being viewed as candidates. "Obviously the driver market's fairly volatile, teams not confirming drivers and a lot of uncertainty, so we have a shortlist of drivers," he revealed.
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"Now we've got our entry confirmed - because it's always this chicken and egg thing, you can't talk to people until you've definitely got an entry, they won't take you seriously - we have a target list of drivers, so we'll start talking to them and we hope we'll be able to announce something in a reasonably sensible time frame.
"I think the whole package ought to attract drivers because I think that everyone will be able to see that what we have is something very substantial moving forward; I think we're very confident with the group, with Tony Fernandes leading the team, that we'll be able to put in place a package that will allow us to be very competitive."
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