Team Lotus
Mugen-Honda | |
Constructors' Championships | 7 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1978) |
---|---|
Drivers' Championships | 6 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1978) |
Race victories | 74 |
Podiums | 165 |
Pole positions | 102 |
Fastest laps | 65 |
Final entry | 1994 Australian Grand Prix |
Mugen-Honda | |
---|---|
Entrants | Team Lotus, Rob Walker Racing Team, numerous minor teams and privateers |
First entry | 1958 Monaco Grand Prix |
Last entry | 1994 Australian Grand Prix |
Races entered | 491 entries (489 starts) |
Race victories | 79 |
Constructors' Championships | 7 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1978) |
Drivers' Championships | 6 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1978) |
Pole positions | 107 |
Fastest laps | 71 |
Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer
The Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2010 as Tony Fernandes's Lotus Racing team. In 2011, Team Lotus's iconic black-and-gold livery returned to F1 as the livery of the Lotus Renault GP team, sponsored by Lotus Cars, and in 2012 the team was re-branded completely as Lotus F1 Team.
1950s – Lotus's origins
The following year, the Lotus 12 appeared. Driving one in 1958, Allison won the F2 class in the International Trophy at Silverstone, beating Stuart Lewis-Evans's Cooper. The remarkable Coventry Climax-powered Type 14, the Lotus Cars production version of which was the original Lotus Elite, won six class victories, plus the "Index of Performance" several times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
As the Coventry Climax engines were enlarged in 1952 to 2.2-litres, Chapman decided to enter Grand Prix racing, running a pair of Lotus 12s at Monaco in 1958 for Graham Hill and Cliff Allison. These were replaced later that year by Lotus 16s.
In 1959 – by which time the Coventry Climax engines had been stretched to 2.5-litres inline with Formula rules – Chapman continued with front-engined F1 cars, but achieved little, so in 1960 Chapman switched to the milestone mid-engined Lotus 18. By then, the company's success had caused it to expand to such an extent that it had to move to new premises at Cheshunt.
Domination in 1960s and 1970s
The first Formula One victory for Team Lotus came when Innes Ireland won the 1961 United States Grand Prix. A year earlier, Stirling Moss had recorded the first victory for a Lotus car at Monaco in his Lotus 18 entered by the independent Rob Walker Racing Team.
There were successes in
In 1963, Clark drove the Lotus 25 to a remarkable seven wins in the season and won the World Championship. The 1964 title was still for the taking by the time of the last race in Mexico but problems with Clark's Lotus and Hill's BRM gave it to Surtees in his Ferrari. However, in 1965, Clark dominated again, six wins in his Lotus 33 gave him the championship.
While very innovative, Chapman also came under criticism for the structural fragility of his designs. The number of top drivers seriously injured or killed in Lotus machinery was considerable – notably Stirling Moss, Alan Stacey, Mike Taylor, Jim Clark, Mike Spence, Bobby Marshman, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Ronnie Peterson. In Dave Friedman's book "Indianapolis Memories 1961–1969", Dan Gurney is quoted as saying, "Did I think the Lotus way of doing things was good? No. We had several structural failures in those cars [Indianapolis Lotus 34 and 38]. But at the time, I felt it was the price you paid for getting something significantly better."
When the Formula One engine size increased to three litres in 1966, Lotus was caught unprepared partly because of the surprising failure of the Coventry Climax 1.5-Litre FWMW Flat-16 project, which prevented Climax from developing a 3-Litre successor. They started the season fielding the hastily prepared and uncompetitive two-litre Coventry-Climax FWMV V8 engine, only switching to the BRM P75 H16 engine in time for the Italian Grand Prix, with the new engine proving to be overweight and unreliable. A switch to the new Ford Cosworth DFV, designed by former Lotus employee Keith Duckworth, in 1967 returned the team to winning form.
Although they failed to win the title in 1967, by the end of the season, the Lotus 49 and the DFV engine were mature enough to make the Lotus team dominant again. However, for 1968 Lotus had lost its exclusive right to use the DFV. The season-opening 1968 South African Grand Prix confirmed Lotus's superiority, with Jim Clark and Graham Hill finishing 1–2. It would be Clark's last win. On 7 April 1968, Clark, one of the most successful and popular drivers of all time, was killed driving a Lotus 48 at Hockenheimring in a non-championship Formula Two event. The season saw the introduction of wings as seen previously on various cars, including the Chaparral sports car. Colin Chapman introduced modest front wings and a spoiler on Hill's Lotus 49B at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix. Graham Hill won the F1 World Championship in 1968 driving the Lotus 49.
Around the same time, Chapman moved Lotus to new premises at
In 1969, the team spent a lot of time experimenting with a gas turbine powered car, and, after four wet races in 1968, with four wheel drive. Both were unsuccessful, especially as every race was dry. They penned a revolutionary new car for 1970 – the wedge-shaped Lotus 72.
The new Lotus 72 was a very innovative car, featuring
The rest of the 1970 season was nailbiting, as Ferrari closed in on Rindt's undefended lead. A brilliant victory in the US GP by rookie driver Emerson Fittipaldi, who had made his debut in the British GP in a 49, sealed the championship for Rindt, who became the only man in history to win the world championship posthumously.
Lotus's 1971 experiments did not bring any serious advance in technology, but allowed Chapman to test several drivers. For 1972, the team focused again on the type 72 chassis, with Imperial Tobacco continuing its sponsorship of the team under its new
The first-ever Formula Ford car was built around a Formula 3 Lotus, the Type 51.
Chapman was also successful at Indianapolis with the Lotus 29, almost winning the 500 at its first attempt in 1963 with Clark at the wheel. The race marked the beginning of the end for the old front-engined Indianapolis roadsters. Clark was leading when he retired from the 1964 event with suspension failure, but in 1965, he won the biggest prize in US racing driving his Lotus 38 and winning by a lap; it was the first mid-engined car to win the Indianapolis 500.
Many of Chapman's successes came from innovation. The Lotus 25 was the first
Team Lotus as a constructor was first to achieve 50 Grand Prix victories. (Ferrari was the second to do so, having won their first Formula One race in 1951, seven years before the first Lotus F1 car.)
In the mid-to-late 1970s, Lotus experienced a resurgence with Mario Andretti joining the team. This came about the morning after the 1976 U.S. Grand Prix West at Long Beach, when Andretti's VPJ-Parnelli had proven uncompetitive. Bob Evans did not qualify his Lotus and Gunnar Nilsson, in the other
1980s
After Chapman's death, the racing team was continued by his widow, Hazel, and managed by
When
The Brazilian moved to
The Lotus-Honda 100T was not a success and Ducarouge returned to France in mid-1989. Lotus hired Frank Dernie to replace him. With the new engine regulations in 1989, Lotus lost its turbocharged Honda engines and used the normally-aspirated Judd V8 instead. In the middle of the year Warr departed and was replaced as team manager by Rupert Manwaring, while long time Lotus senior executive Tony Rudd was brought in as chairman. The best results for the team in 1989 was 4th places for Piquet in the British, Canadian and Japanese races, and 4th place and fastest lap for Nakajima in Australia. At the end of the season Piquet left for Benetton, and Nakajima moved to Tyrrell.
1990s and demise
A deal was organized for
Former Team Lotus employees Peter Collins and Peter Wright organized a deal to take over the team from the Chapman family and in December the new Team Lotus was launched with Mika Häkkinen and Julian Bailey being signed for the 1991 season to drive updated Lotus 102Bs with Judd engines. At the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix, the team scored its first double points finish since the 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix, with Häkkinen in fifth and Bailey in sixth. Despite this, Bailey was soon replaced by Johnny Herbert for the balance of the season. For the following year, the team signed a deal to use Ford's HB V8 in their new Lotus 107s, designed by Chris Murphy. The team was now short on money and this affected performance, but the car allowed Häkkinen to score 11 points, including two fourth places at the 1992 French Grand Prix (where he had failed to qualify the previous year) and the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix, while Herbert scored two points for 6th Places at the 1992 South African Grand Prix and 1992 French Grand Prix. The team finished 5th in the Constructors' Championship. Häkkinen, who finished 8th in the 1992 Drivers' Championship, moved to McLaren as a test driver in 1993. He was replaced by Alessandro Zanardi, who was himself replaced by Pedro Lamy after crashing heavily at the 1993 Belgian Grand Prix, where Herbert scored the last two points for Team Lotus. Over the year, the team scored 12 points despite the tight budget and finished 6th in the 1993 Constructors' Championship. Herbert finished 9th in the Drivers' Championship with three 4th placements: the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, where he lost 3rd to Benetton's Michael Schumacher shortly before the end of the race; the 1993 European Grand Prix, where he made only one pit stop for tyres; and the 1993 British Grand Prix, where he was not far behind Riccardo Patrese's 3rd placed Benetton at the end, having benefited from the retirements of Ayrton Senna, Martin Brundle and Damon Hill. Zanardi scored one 6th place at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race with both Lotus cars in the points.
Debts were mounting and the team was unable to develop the Lotus 107. For the
An Administration Order was made in respect of the Company on 12 September 1994, and it was compulsorily wound up by the Court on 13 February 1995. A sworn statement of affairs showed that the company had an estimated deficiency of £12,050,000. Disqualification Orders were made against Peter Collins, and Peter Wright on 15 October 1998 for nine years, and seven years respectively.
Before the end of the 1994 season, the team had been sold to
Pacific left Formula One after the 1995 Australian Grand Prix. The last race for Lotus was the 1994 Australian Grand Prix.
2010: return of Lotus name in Formula One
This article needs to be updated.(January 2012) |
Following the 1994 collapse – but before the end of that season – the rights to the name Team Lotus were purchased by
On 23 December 2010, the Chapman family released a statement in which they unequivocally backed Group Lotus in the dispute over the use of the Lotus name in Formula One, and made it clear that they would prefer that the Team Lotus name did not return to F1.[11]
On 27 May 2011, Justice Peter Smith finally made his verdict public in High Court, giving permission to Tony Fernandes to naming his F1 team Team Lotus after purchasing the rights to the name from previous owner David Hunt. Added to that, Group Lotus are entitled to race in F1 using the historic black and gold livery and have the right to use the Lotus marque on cars for road use. In summary, the
In 2012,
Formula One results
References
- ^ "retrieved on 1 May 2008". Gglotus.org. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ^ GrandPrix.com. "Ex-Lotus boss Peter Warr dies". 6 October 2010. Accessed 23 June 2011. http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns22654.html
- ^ "Car Model: Lotus 109". ChicaneF1.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^ "If it hadn't been for that day at Brands". forix.com. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
- ^ a b "Lotus name ready for return to F1". BBC News. 7 June 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
- ^ "Lotus company not behind 'Team Lotus'". Autosport.com. 10 June 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
- ^ "2010 FIA Formula One World Championship Entry List". Fia.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ^ "Malaysians pushing for Lotus F1 entry". Autosport.com. 3 September 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ^ "Lotus to be 13th team on F1 grid in 2010". Fia.com. 15 September 2009. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ^ [1] Archived 5 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Chapman family backs Group Lotus over Fernandes". ESPN F1. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ^ "Both Lotus' claim High Court Victory". planetF1.com. 27 May 2011. Archived from the original on 30 May 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
- ^ Cary, Tom (4 November 2011). "Row over Lotus name in F1 finally over as F1 Commission sanction three name changes". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2012.