Team Lotus to Change Name in F1

Team Lotus is preparing a neat exit from its naming dispute with Lotus Group in Formula 1, as the Norfolk-based organization will reportedly undergo a name change, in addition to securing a new title sponsor, that is to be confirmed on Wednesday.

According to the GMM news agency, a multitude of sources have now confirmed that Tony Fernandes, the team principal of Team Lotus and owner of AirAsia, has recently completed the purchase of British carmaker Caterham Cars.

In addition to that move, Fernandes seems to have moved quickly to secure a deal with Angolan state oil company Sonangol, current backer of Team Lotus' reserve driver Ricardo Teixeira.

According to Dutch website f1today.nl, some proof that the move will be announced soon consists in the fact that Fernandes' squad has already registered new Internet domains for the soon to be baptized team, such as sonangolcaterhamf1.com and sonangolcaterhamteamlotus.com. The latter would actually be used as a transition from the Team Lotus name to the Caterham F1 one.

“Team Lotus is a platform to promote Caterham,” recently admitted Fernandes in an interview with Autocar. “I always wanted to use F1 to get into a road car business. We had hoped it would be Lotus, but that went horribly wrong. I looked at other options and Caterham jumped out.”

According to the aforementioned sources, the news has a good chance of making the headlines officially later today, after Bruno Senna's straight line testing session on the Duxford runway at the wheel of the T128. The meeting will also be attended by Teixeira, alongside Team Lotus' official drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.