F1: wither Team Lotus?

Hints that the feared back-room deal to hand the name "Team Lotus" to Group Lotus for its rumoured entry (via investment in Renault) first became almost palpable when Lotus Racing's PR office issued an announcement on 11 November. "Black & Gold - The evolution of Lotus Racing," described how the team will change from the original Lotus colours of green and yellow to the later (tobacco company inspired) black and gold.

The release smacked of putting a brave face on things: "Lotus Racing has announced this morning that its cars will be running in a black and gold colour scheme from the 2011 Championship onwards. This move echoes the evolution of Lotus Formula One™ cars of the past by moving from the iconic green and yellow paint scheme of the first season to the much loved black and gold," it said.

True: it was the JPS Lotus colours that brought us Andretti, Hakkinen, Mansell and - of course - Senna.

But it was the green and yellow that brought us Clark, Hill, Hailwood, Moss and Surtees.

Indeed, the roll-call of Lotus drivers is almost the roll-call of every great the sport has ever seen.

That is what is firing up Group Lotus. That and the fact that Tony Fernandes' audacious bid for F1 greatness has paid off in ways that few thought possible.

The team has done more, with less and far less time, than its immediate rivals. Far from using their first season as a learning curve, they set out to be competitive from the first time the car turned a wheel.

And by the middle of the season, Lotus Racing was snapping at the heels of the middle runners.

Then the team made a brave decision: they would run the car they had for the rest of 2010 and concentrate on data-gathering and development of the 2011 car. In part driven by reliability failures with the hydraulics which resulted in parked cars more often than any other reason, the team eventually announced that it was breaking with Cosworth and moving its drive train contract to Red Bull.

But despite the clear synergy in taking the associated Renault engine, no announcement was forthcoming for several weeks. When it did, the name Team Lotus was conspicuous by its absence. Later rumours started about Group's possible involvement with the Renault F1 team.

In the meantime, Lotus Racing announced that it had done a deal with David Hunt, owner of the Team Lotus brand and trademark, to be known as Team Lotus for 2011. Although not formally confirmed, some have said that the imperative to do this was because the name Lotus Racing had been granted to the team by Group Lotus for one year.

Part of the battle is based in the growing base that Fernandes and his pals who own the racing business are growing right on the doorstep of Group Lotus. As Group Lotus has placed entries in the lower European formulae, so has AirAsia. When Lotus Racing announced that it had brought all its people from Germany and Italy to the new base in Hingham where it was building its own wind tunnel, Group Lotus reacted badly.

Group had already started to build its brand in the upper classes of open wheel racing with a branded entry in the Indycar series. But the car had no Lotus design input: it's really a one-make series although there are plans to change that.

However, as a marketing effort, that did not good at all. And the excellent one-make sports car championship-within-a-championship in European races has not caught the imagination of broadcasters and therefore flies below the radar for most of the public.

For Malaysia, Lotus Racing has provided a huge publicity benefit: Malaysian companies and the Malaysian Prime Minister's 1 Malaysia initiative have been brought to a massive global audience. Group Lotus wants some of that.

The Lotus Racing publicity bonanza for Malaysia has come at no cost to the country's taxpayer. But Group Lotus is owned by state-owned Proton and the money to enter F1 has to come from somewhere. Renault - not owned by the manufacturer since the end of last season - has struggled for finance all through 2010. Some Russian bank money was too little, too late. The team has certainly punched above its financial weight this year as borne out by its superb result in Abu Dhabi.

Lotus Racing no longer makes any mention of Team Lotus. Its buoyant statements after the Abu Dhabi GP refer only to Lotus Racing.

Fernandes says "even in the modern age where money and power counts for so much, there is a chance for ambition and dreams to shine. 2010 is a year that we can be proud of. We brought Lotus back into F1 after many had talked about it, but we did it."

They did. It's shameful if they get dumped on for having done so.