Lotus Did Not Sign Trulli, Still on the Lookout

A couple of weeks ago, Lotus F1 Team announced that one driver has already been signed for their 2010 Formula One campaign. Everybody believed it's Jarno Trulli, as the move made more sense than ever: the Italian was job-less following Toyota's withdrawal from the sport and his friendship with Lotus' technical chief Mike Gascoyne was reason enough for them to bond at the Malaysian outfit.

Mike Gascoyne used to work with Trulli back in his Toyota days and recently hailed the F1 veteran for his experience in the sport, as well as incredible speed in qualifying. That latter aspect was considered vital by Gascoyne, as a new-entry team would certainly need someone who scores good grid positioning race in and race out.

However, via his last post on his personal Twitter account, Lotus F1's CEO Tony Fernandes brought a completely new light to the matter. While telling his Twitter followers about his visit to London, the Air Asia boss revealed that he has to choose from 4 drivers for the 2 racing spots in his team.

“Have to decide on 4 drivers for 2 seats,” said his short post on Twitter.

That means that not one, but two racing seats are up for grabs at Lotus, with the names of the 4 drivers yet to be disclosed by the team's officials. Trulli is still believed to hold a good chance of inking a deal – as the team does need experience at their return in the series – while Kamui Kobayashi is another name to be clearly looked at.

In addition, the nation's most promising driver Fairuz Fauzy officially offered his services to the team, but Gascoyne recently told the media he would only make the cut for the test/reserve driver role.