Lotus to Confirm Maxis Deal This Week

The fact that every Lotus T127 that has started a race in the 2010 Formula One championship managed to cross the finish line – something that no other new F1 team has done this year – seems to attract some decent business opportunities for the Malaysian backed team. According to several reports, it seems that Tony Fernandes' outfit is ready to ink yet another sponsorship agreement in the series.

During a media event on Tuesday, a new brand was spotted on the nose of the Lotus T127, namely the one belonging to leading Malaysian mobile network Maxis. According to the GMM news agency, “the Maxis logo was seen on the front nose assembly in Kuala Lumpur, at the launch of the new Lotus-branded Proton Satria road car.”

Nevertheless, there is still no official word from the Lotus F1 Team, as it's expected that an announcement on the new deal will be made during the course of this week. That would mark the team's 3rd major sponsorship deal for the 2010 F1 championship, following the agreements signed with well-known news network CNN and London clothing label Hackett.

Coincidentally or not, Maxis' headquarters is based in Kuala Lumpur, bearing the name of Maxis Tower. The impressive building is placed near the famous Petronas Twin Towers, a company that decided not to back their own countrymen into F1 prior to the start of the year.

Following a long-time agreement with BMW Sauber, the Malaysian oil company decided to switch sponsorship to newly-former Mercedes GP, a move that angered Lotus' team principal Tony Fernandes. Petronas therefore became title sponsors of Mercedes GP, leaving Lotus in the sponsor hunt with only weeks till the season opener in Bahrain.