Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsLotus F1

Lotus 'too good' to disappear from F1

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Jolyon Palmer says he has no concerns Lotus might not be on the grid next season, believing the team is "too good" to not be in F1.

Lotus' future remains uncertain after a season hit by financial difficulties and a protracted takeover by Renault. While the team could well become Renault next season, no deal has yet been finalised as Red Bull's future in the sport also remains unclear.

Palmer told F1i he is working on two scenarios to try and secure a race seat at Lotus next year, and asked if he is worried the team may not be on the grid at all, he replied: “No, I don’t really have any concerns.

"I think the team here is too good really. Everyone at Enstone is super professional. You’ve seen it this year, when all the stuff is kicking off there has been a lot of troubles and yet we can still provide a point-scoring car and even a podium-finishing car.

“The facilities at Enstone are very good. I don’t see that there’s not going to be a team running out of Enstone next year. If the Renault deal doesn’t go through then hopefully the Lotus bosses can regroup and do something for next year. If not then there just has to be F1 running out of Enstone really, it’s too good an F1 facility and too good a people to let it stop.”

While confident in the team's future, Palmer admits he is less sure of the competition he faces to potentially replace Romain Grosjean at Lotus.

“Honestly only what I read in the media, I don’t know anything. You guys all seem to put in different names and that’s what I know. I don’t know, I’m just focusing on doing my best to secure the seat. There are some good drivers around, that’s for sure, but we will see what pans out.”

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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.