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[LewEngBridewell]

This has gone on for so long now, Ive kind of forgotten who's who. So is the real Lotus now Catterham and Renault now Lotus?

Yeah, Tony Fernandes' team are now Caterham and are going to retain the green and yellow livery. Renault are now Lotus and will retain the black and gold colours.

[racechick]

Right thanks. Caterham is quite a good name I guess for the real Lotus...cos they make cars a bit like Lotus. Why do Renault want to be called Lotus?

[darwin dali]

Right thanks. Caterham is quite a good name I guess for the real Lotus...cos they make cars a bit like Lotus. Why do Renault want to be called Lotus?

Renault hasn't really been part of that team for a while now - this name change simply makes the divorce official and Renault becomes what it effectively has been: an engine supplier to the Lotus team.

[racechick]

Right thanks. Caterham is quite a good name I guess for the real Lotus...cos they make cars a bit like Lotus. Why do Renault want to be called Lotus?

Renault hasn't really been part of that team for a while now - this name change simply makes the divorce official and Renault becomes what it effectively has been: an engine supplier to the Lotus team.

Oh I see.

[Hammer278]

Right thanks. Caterham is quite a good name I guess for the real Lotus...cos they make cars a bit like Lotus. Why do Renault want to be called Lotus?

Because Renault is owned by Group Lotus, the morons who can't stand Fernandes creating something great - again. So they block his move, a typical <*****> mentality of 'if we dont succeed, you dont succeed'. Yes, a pathetic political agenda nothing more.

[bud]

I think its more to do with group Lotus wanting to have an F1 presence for their road cars which is why they bought into Renault.

the closest thing to a Renault F1 team now is infact RedBull. They are the Renault works team.

[darwin dali]

I think its more to do with group Lotus wanting to have an F1 presence for their road cars which is why they bought into Renault.

the closest thing to a Renault F1 team now is infact RedBull. They are the Renault works team.

Even there, they're really just an engine supplier to a preferred team.

[bud]

I think its more to do with group Lotus wanting to have an F1 presence for their road cars which is why they bought into Renault.

the closest thing to a Renault F1 team now is infact RedBull. They are the Renault works team.

Even there, they're really just an engine supplier to a preferred team.

Works deals are different to just a supplier.

[madbrad]

I never heard RB were the works team. I just thought they were the customer who gets the most attention.
Works teams traditionally got their engines free in days of yon, like Williams with Renault until 1997 and Maclaren with Mercedes until 2010. I don't know that Red Bull has that kind of relationship.
That all kind of faded out when all the manufacturers came into the sport and none of the garagistes could get a works engine because no company was an engine supplier without also being its own team(except cosworth, which does not do works deals). I miss the era of the garagistes and it looks to be making a subtle return, seeing how the last 3 championships were won by them, works deal or not!
I personally find F1 fandom more satisfying when the carmakers just stick to supplying engines. One or two manufacturer teams is OK, just not half the field, with the other half buying their engines, or cosworth's.

[bud]

Ok it was Horners claim.

Red Bull is now the works Renault team.

That is the claim of Red Bull principal Christian Horner, after the team’s new engine supply deal with Renault Sport F1 was announced at Monza.

It was announced not only that Renault engines will continue to power the Red Bull cars through 2017, but that the parties will collaborate “to develop innovative technical solutions” for the new V6 engine of 2014.

Renault’s managing director Jean-Francois Caubet added that the deal, to utilise Red Bull’s “input, resources and vast in-house F1 car expertise”, will also benefit Renault’s “other team partners” like Lotus-Renault, Team Lotus and Williams.

For example, according to Renault’s chief operating officer Carlos Tavares, Red Bull’s input could be used to devise “formidable aerodynamic packaging” for the new engine.

So even though an entirely separate team still bears the Renault chassis name, and in light of Williams’ historic ties, it is Red Bull that should now be considered as having works status, according to Horner.

“The partnership with Renault/Nissan alliance is an important one for the team,” he told the Red Bull website.

“It guarantees stability, it makes us the premier, factory team of Renault Sport, so our colleagues where the engines are produced will be working hand in hand with the engineers and designers at Red Bull.”

Horner added that Renault and Red Bull will also set up a “joint venture” to supply gearbox and KERS systems.

But he is right in the fact Redbull and Renault are going to collaborate together so in effect they are the works team.

[LewEngBridewell]

I personally find F1 fandom more satisfying when the carmakers just stick to supplying engines. One or two manufacturer teams is OK, just not half the field, with the other half buying their engines, or cosworth's.

None of the manufacturers last long anyway. Ferrari aside, F1 is not their primary interest. It'll be interesting to see how long Mercedes lasts as a works team... this of course being its second venture into motorsport's top flight.

[Rej]

totally wrong for the team to retain the green and yellow colours.

Those colours should be used by the "lotus" team. id be happy to see them race in orange though, the arrows cars that raced in that colour looked good.

Lotus never had any exclusive right to british racing green. Lotus has no more claim to it than any other British team. Green means Britain, just as red means Italy and silver means Germany. It's for any british team, in series where colours were tied to countries, which F1 is not.

Tell Ferrari they don't have a claim to Red

Technically Germanies colour wasn't silver I think it was white or black and white. They became famous for silver when Merc stripped off the paint to save weight leaving bare metal skin.

Indeed Germany's color officialy is white. It was the "Silver arrow" era that changed that bit a little.
I love the black-orange combination in a F1
But I think Caterham should change its color(s)..otherwise we will always link them to Lotus, so the name change would be useless.

[racechick]

But really they are Lotus.
Didnt Ferrari start of with yellow cars? Or have I been dreaming again.

[scotty]

Not dreaming, Ferrari's technical 'colour' is Modena Yellow i believe

And i think Italy's racing colour is supposed to be Azure Blue but that might be wrong... where the hell is AKR when you actually need her eh?

[andrew]

But really they are Lotus.

In name only but for me true Lotus F1 team died at the end of the 1994 season.

All begs the question, what's in a name?