Formula
One's key stakeholders have agreed to requests from three teams to
change their chassis names next season, bringing an end to a year-long
row over the use of the Lotus name in F1.
According
to reports, Team Lotus' cars will be known as Caterhams next season,
Renault's cars will be called Lotuses and the Virgins will be renamed
Marussias, after fellow F1 teams and other members of the F1 Commission
agreed to the name changes at a meeting in Geneva.
While
the origins of the Virgin name change are relatively straightforward
(the team wanting to promote key investors Marussia over Richard
Branson's Virgin brand), the row over the Lotus name has been dragging
on since the end of last season.
After
a bitter court battle, Team Lotus eventually maintained the right to
use its historic name in Formula One, while car manufacturer Group
Lotus, which was trying to prevent Team Lotus using the name, was also
allowed to continue its sponsorship of Renault. However, Team Lotus boss
Tony Fernandes has now decided to drop the name in favour of his
recently-acquired Caterham car brand, thus ending the confusion of
having two teams using the Lotus name on the F1 grid.
The name changes are expected to be ratified and confirmed at a meeting of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council on December 7.
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