There are growing concerns in the F1 paddock that not all the new teams will make it to the grid for the season-opening round in Bahrain from March 12-14.
Campos Meta and USF1 Racing have reportedly ran into financial woes and they are likely to skip the upcoming official F1 test sessions in Jerez and Barcelona later this month.
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has even weighed in by saying that new teams will not be penalised as his terms allow them to miss up to the first three races.
But Malaysia-backed Lotus F1 Racing will not miss a beat. Their chief executive officer, Riad Asmat, said that they were committed to making it through the entire season. Malaysia Star
Speculation fills the scene as Lotus F1 Racing prepare for the much awaited launch of their car in London on Friday, but Riad Asmat believes all negative airs will be cleared when the car is unveiled.
“This is no mock-up car. It is a running car with an engine in it that has been a result of about 100 days of hard work. We are fighting for every single detail there is,” said Riad yesterday.
The Cosworth V8 engine in the back of the Lotus F1 car had already been fired up for the first time on Saturday night, and today, test driver Fairuz Fauzy is due to put the car through straight line tests at the Silverstone Circuit.
Fairuz will then join race drivers Jarno Trulli and Heiki Kovalainen at the Jerez Circuit in Spain next Wednesday for the first official tests. New Straits Times
Technical chief Mike Gascoyne said: “It was a big moment to see the car turn a wheel for the first time.
“We had no major issues or anything that gives us concern for the future.”
Despite their late entry on the 2010 grid, Gascoyne is pleased with the team’s rapid progress.
Lotus F1 will join the majority of F1’s teams in Jerez next week for the third of four winter tests, while fellow newcomers US F1 and Campos Meta 1 have yet to fire up their cars.
“To have done everything from scratch to a running car in 21 weeks is a fantastic achievement,” added Gascoyne, who can list Renault, Jordan and Toyota amongst his previous employers.
“The Stowe circuit is not much bigger than a go-kart track and on a cold February afternoon when it’s snowing intermittently you are never going to learn much about the handling of the car.”
“But we got a good number of laps on it and we did all the systems checks so we can run in anger in Jerez.” BBC Sport
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