Lotus to run 16-year-old Malaysian in test

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Lotus are to conduct an aerodynamic test with a 16-year-old driving.

Malaysian kart racer Nabil Jeffri will drive their T127 in Britain next month. The team have not revealed the venue for the test.

Jeffri currently races in the Formula BMW Pacific championship, where he lies fifth after six of the season’s 15 rounds.

He is part of the Air Asia ASEAN Driver Development Program, run by Air Asia CEO and Lotus Racing team principal Tony Fernandes.

Fernandes said:

It’s an exciting day for all of us in the Lotus Racing team – being able to give bright young talent like Nabil the chance to play an integral role in the development of our team is a recognition of his burgeoning talent, and shows that there is a clear route to the top rung of the motorsport ladder, no matter how old you are or where you are racing.

I’m sure that before he gets in the hot seat he’ll be speaking to Fairuz Fauzy for some advice – Fairuz is another Malaysian sports star who, as our third driver, is showing at tracks around the world that you can reach the top if you work hard to achieve your dreams – together, they serve as inspirations to everyone in our team, and to young talent all over the world.
Tony Fernandes

You can follow Nabil Jeffri on Twitter here.

Read more: Lotus

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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50 comments on “Lotus to run 16-year-old Malaysian in test”

  1. God damn it I should do something with my life and I am 19…

    1. you missed the boat – formula 1 is the new gymnastics

    2. Snap Karan. It really makes me feel old.

      1. lol I hate feeling like I’ve missed the chance to be make a success of my life.

        1. I still have a chance – I have a friend studying engineering at Cambridge who harbours ambitions to replace Stefano Domenicalli and he’s promised me a Ferrari drive when he does so.

          1. Dan have I ever said that you’re one of my favourite posters on here. Please swing me a job at Ferrari :P

          2. And remember to hire me as your race engineer!

          3. I’ll do what I can. In 20 years “Daniel is faster than you” will be all the rage.

      2. I’m thinking of sending off for my provisional at almost 17 and he’s in an F1 car!!

    3. Didn’t Hill get his drive when he was almost 30?

  2. too young? yeah, i think so. but what do i know? i’m not a driver’s coach or team manager.

  3. Not sure he will have more from it than the great feeling of being noticed, in a straight line run the driver does not much more than push the gas pedal, keep the steering wheel straight and then brake.

    Fernandez and the Malaysian government seem to be firmly set to reach the goal of getting a Malaysian driving the car some years from now. Fauzy is not up that, but maybe this kid will be?

  4. This is one of the reasons why I don’t like Lotus: they’re being their own worst enemy. They have their hearts set on finding a Malaysian driver, but the problem is that if they find one who has a modicum of talent, they’re likely to give him a run when someone more deserving of the seat wouold be forced to miss out.

    1. Agree entirely. A lot of the respect they’ve earnt by respecting the values of the Chapman era seem a little bit hollower now.

      Would Colin approve? Answers on a postcard.

    2. I’m not so sure they’d reject someone worthy. They only put a Malaysian in for testing or the odd practice session. Unless a Malaysian comes alongn with a mass of money then I think they’d go for talent first.

      I just see it as they haven’t moved their base to Malaysia yet and won’t for a while so they’re throwing them a bone to say they haven’t forgot where the money and support has came from. If any of the people they test turns out to be talented then that’s a bonus.

      1. I agree with Steph. They could have put Fairuz Fauzy in the car this season but instead they went with two experiemce campaigners, so the argument that the would overlook a “worthy” driver is a bit harsh.

        I admire the Lotus model, I really do. They are doing it right on all fronts, car design (be reliable first then make it fast) , fan engagement (loads of new content on Facebook and Twitter daily) and PR (holding onto the Chapman legacy while trying to make the project worthwhile for Malaysian investors). They have a lot of competing interests and they are managing them magnificently.

        1. I’ll second GeeMac and Steph here

        2. I know they are currently based in Norfolk, but seriously, Lotus they are not.

          Forget about the name and look beneath the surface.

  5. So you don’t need a Super License if you’re just going to drive it in a straight line, then?

    1. No you don’t need a superlicence for closed track private aerodynamic tests.

      1. you dont need a super licence for testing at all i dont think. Just for competing in the races.

  6. Prisoner Monkeys got it spot on, why don’t they just use Fauzy.

    1. Because Fauzy is rubbish. Some of the kinder assessments of him that I’ve heard say he ws out of his depth in British F3. And maybe they have some merit to them – the few times he’s run this year have been marked by an abysmal pace, two seconds a lap slower than Hispania.

  7. There’s some confusion over exactly how old he is. Lotus’s press release claim he’s 16, but Tony Fernando said on Twitter he’s 17 and Nabil’s Twitter account appears to imply the same.

    Forix say he’s 17, but they also say Liuzzi is 30 today when he’s actually 29.

    1. Have swapped emails with Lotus, they’re sure his birthday is 24th October 1993, so I’m going with 16 for now.

      1. OK, this is much better, now we have it straight from the horse’s mouth:

        http://twitter.com/nabiljeffri/statuses/20453772424

      2. Thats scary…he is only 4 days older than me! Talk about living the dream, I would kill to do that.

        1. I agree. He is just 2 months older than me. I have wasted my life!

  8. Are they allowed to test?

    1. All the teams have a limited number of straight-line aero tests they can do, this will be one of them.

  9. I can’t stop thinking this is just all wrong. Nobody should be driving an F1 car at 16. What happens if he gets a drive and has to race at Singapore, is he allowed out that late at night?

    1. This guy must make Jaime Alguersuari feel old.

    2. Yeah, so long as he washes behind his ears and doesn’t cross the road.

      In all seriousness best of luck to him, us people on the internet are far too quick to think the worst, you never know he might be natural as some drivers are.

      international happy internet day!

  10. The first guy who’s younger than me (I was born earlier in the same year)! WOW I thought Alguersuari was young!

    Quote from lotusracing.my: “…An aero test the team will be running on 1st September on the airfield at Imperial War Museum, Duxford in the UK”

    Queue the cameras!

    1. Coordinates for anyone using Google Maps or Google Earth (or equivalent):

      52.091294 degrees N

      0.133080 degrees E

  11. Is there any minimum age required for taking a drive in F1 car?

    DO the driver need to meet any criteria?

    1. Just the right connections / pot of money to get there and some talent for driving is quite helpfull to most.

      1. That’s me out then……

  12. I say well done to Lotus for finding the young (very young!) talent. It wasn’t that long ago we were discussing the fact that there aren’t many drivers available to F1 from certain parts of the world. At least Lotus are trying to do something about it (and maybe inspiring the next generation too!)
    On another note, I see the partner is Air Asia, but don’t they sponsor Williams? Why isn’t Frank out in Malaysia doing his thing? :-)

    1. On another note, I see the partner is Air Asia, but don’t they sponsor Williams? Why isn’t Frank out in Malaysia doing his thing?

      From what I’ve heard only reason Air Asia’s logos aren’t on the Lotus is because their Williams contract hasn’t expired yet. Expect that to change next year.

  13. When talking about running a car on the Lotus test track, here is another car being ran on that track: a London taxi with hydrogen fuel cell!
    http://www.theengineer.co.uk/1004204.article?cmpid=TE01P&cmptype=newsletter

    Lotus engineering is one of the developing companies, so i suppose Lotus Racing could get a KERS unit from them next year :-)

  14. This kid is the luckiest 16 year old in the world

  15. I think Lotus should run Jazeman Jafaar instead….
    He’s also Malaysian and is doing well in F3. I wonder what Fairuz is thinking right now…

  16. Snap em up before puberty, seems to be the norm these days.

    In all honesty for me this is a sad day for F1 and shows where it is heading. I’m 26, yet by that age Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell and Keke Rosberg hadn’t even put their backsides in an F1 car. The chances of someone in the upper 20’s being able to enter F1 – minimal. Gone are the days of natural talent, hello corporate agendas. If you guys were able to convince me otherwise I will happily quit my job and start racing cars.

    I’m sure there is someone out there more deserving of a drive than this guy.

  17. LOL…. cool guys

    this kid just for testing on straight line aerodynamic test session only; it’s not that they already sign this kid for more serious permanent position at lotus.

    even ferrari have signed youngster as their junior driver program (what’s that lucky young boy name?)

  18. Jazeman Jafaar got Petronas backing. Tony choose Nabil because he is a year younger and got quite a talent too.

    BTW, Jazeman won Formula BMW at the age of 14 with a special permission to compete in the formula because he is under the age limit.

  19. Just as i suspected, soon we will be watching little children racing in F1, here kiddie kiddie kiddie… blablabla blaaa.. me so young me can’t talk or eat yet.. me press accelerator now… weeeeeeeee…. hihihihi.. dis is soo coooll hi hi hi hi… daddy watch meeee hihihihi…. mummy watch me go around cornerrrr weeeeeeeeee…. broooom brooom….beeep beeeep….

    Mummy: yes son be quite im too busy, play with your toys,
    Daddy: heh boys and their toys

    F1 Fans: Wow did you see that! how cool was that!?, wooow that kid just… mmm, just, mmm went around the corner!… wow… so exciting!
    F1 Fanatic Fans: Did you think that was legal move?! that baby X needs to get a drive through penalty! Awww poor bugger he doesnt know what that is!

    Kid driver X: weeeeeeee this air move sooo fassst weeeee…

    there is F1 future for you and it goes on lol.

    1. Well, it made me laugh.

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