Renault, Lotus and Virgin to change names in 2012

2012 F1 season

November 3, 2011 at 5:42 pm by Keith Collantine

Bruno Senna, Renault, Buddh International Circuit, 2011

The long-standing row over the use of the Lotus name will finally be resolved next year.

The FIA’s Formula 1 Commission has approved changes which will see Lotus renamed as Caterham, paving the way for Renault to take the name Lotus from next year, according to the BBC.

A further change will see the Virgin team formally change their name to Marussia next season.

In May the High Court ruled Lotus had the right to the name Team Lotus, and not Renault, who are sponsored by car manufacturer Group Lotus. The pair have been in negotiations to resolve the dispute since then.

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86 comments on Renault, Lotus and Virgin to change names in 2012

Steph (@) said on 3rd November 2011, 21:12

see Lotus renamed as Caterham, paving the way for Renault to take the name Lotus from next yea

After all of that fuss…

PJ (@pjtierney) said on 3rd November 2011, 21:31

So, will “new Lotus” be green?

- BasCB (@bascb) said on 3rd November 2011, 22:46
  
  Don’t expect they will, after succesfully poaching one livery from the real deal already, they should at least stick with that. And its shiny and glitzy, exactly how Bahar likes them!
  
  - Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 4th November 2011, 0:25
    
    I believe Tony Fernandes has said that they’ll keep the green design because of the connections to Caterham.
    
    The entire point of this name change was to separate the two teams. Having just cleared the waters, I don’t think Renault will muddy them again by running a similar livery to Caterham.
    
    I’d actually like to see them do something similar to this year’s DAMS design (which was similar to the R30, but cleaner): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R_Grosjean_Monza_2011.jpg
    
    - BasCB (@bascb) said on 4th November 2011, 8:24
      
      I agree with you, that the Renault team wants to build a brand and is likely to stick with a livery similar to what they have now.
      
      Would be teriffic if they went for that yellow/black one, it looks really good.
      
wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 4th November 2011, 2:43

So if that’s the case then why did Tony & his team gone to court & create all this drama,could have spend the money in a better place.

- silencer (@silencer) said on 4th November 2011, 7:26
  
  if I’m not wrong; it is Group Lotus who initiated the legal battle
  
- Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl) said on 4th November 2011, 15:07
  
  Because he wanted to gain as much as he could before losing the Lotus tag. He knew he couldn’t hold on to it, so he played the waiting game.
  
  I don’t if you noticed, but Justice Smith told Fernandes during the July hearing (second Lotus vs. Lotus case) that had he known about purchase of Caterham and crossbranding with Team Lotus, he could have ruled against Fernandes entirely. That’s why it has been all resolved. Ethics of such conduct from Fernades are at least questionable.
  
  - Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl) said on 4th November 2011, 15:08
    
    *I don’t know if you noticed
    
manatcna (@manatcna) said on 4th November 2011, 5:12

Williams to be re-branded KR Racing ? :)

- PJ (@pjtierney) said on 4th November 2011, 11:39
  
  Toro Rosso to be rebranded as “Red Bull 2″? :D
  
  - sozavele (@formula-1) said on 4th November 2011, 22:05
    
    Like Williams would drop out with a sensational name like that even though they are doing badly Red Bull 2 is an awful name.
    
UKFan (@) said on 5th November 2011, 1:20

I think Renault will be Lotus Renault like this year but Team Lotus will no longer exist

- UKFan (@) said on 5th November 2011, 1:23
  
  I think that was Renaults sponsors will they didnt want to have 2 lotuses teams, like it says in this arcticle Team lotus will be caterham
  
wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 5th November 2011, 2:39

Given the fact that the team is still own by the same person Or I would say the same license will this name change will affect their F1 statistics? For example will Caterham & Marussia will have 38 race start for them before the start of 2012? or will they be 0?