Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsLotus F1

Lotus 'still very much alive' insists Gastaldi

Lotus F1 Team deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi has insisted that rumours of the team's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

This season the team has been dogged by media reports of late payments to drivers, staff and suppliers, and seemingly came close to having its equipment impounded at Spa-Francorchamps because of legal action instigated by former test and reserve driver Charles Pic.

"They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger," said Gastaldi as the team prepared to fly out to Singapore for the next round of the 2016 world championship. "Don’t believe any of the negative rumours you hear.

"I can confirm that the team is very much alive, but we have been going through a very strenuous workout programme this season.

"Things have certainly been tight and we’ve embraced the Japanese just-in-time philosophy a little too literally on occasions. All this has been necessary but we keep fighting the good fight.

"We believe in the team, we believe in Formula One and we believe we’ll still be here fighting for the rest of this season and beyond," he said.

Gastaldi admitted that "external factors made it something of a challenge getting ready for Monza," but added that "everything is under control."

"Certainly, this is a lean-running year and you wouldn’t want to attempt running much leaner. Thankfully we do have some fantastic partners, all of whom understand the situation and are tremendously supportive.

"I need to clarify some misunderstanding, too - all our sponsors and partners have paid on time and some even ahead of time.

"We’re certainly a pretty long way from being flush with money – unlike some of our rival teams – but we’ve done what has been necessary to make the team far more efficient and viable going forward."

Speculation in the paddock is that Lotus may be bought by Renault and become a works team for the engine manufacturers in 2016, but that various contractual issues are continuing to delay the confirmation of the sale.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.