If Trulli's deal is no shock to anybody, as the former Toyota racer has been intensively linked with a move to Lotus for the 2010 campaign, Kovalainen's stepping into the equation happened during the early hours of the weekend. It was Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat that first reported this possibility, while also revealing that it was in fact Aces Management, headed by Didier Coton, who took care of the deal.
Kovalainen was managed by Flavio Briatore, still banned by the FIA for lifetime as a consequence of his involvement in the crash gate, which meant the Italian was not allowed to negotiate for the Finnish driver.
In addition to Lotus' announcement, it has emerged to the media that both Trulli and Kovalainen will be paid, rather than pay for their seats.
“I am really pleased to be joining Lotus F1 Racing. It was quite a difficult situation at the start of November with my former team withdrawing from Formula 1, but I was convinced I would stay in Formula 1,” said Trulli.
“There is a lot of ambition from Tony (Fernandes, Team Principal), Mike and in fact the whole of Malaysia as a nation, and that level of enthusiasm is infectious for a driver. I am really looking forward to the challenge,” added the Italian driver.
“For me there were a couple of major factors - Tony and Mike being the two leading figures in the project, and the backing behind the team were both very important, and having spoken to both of them I became aware that the whole operation has a lot of potential, and a very good chance of being a successful team in the future. I saw Lotus F1 Racing as the best choice for me to progress my career, after considering several other options that were available to me,” added Kovalainen.
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