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F1: Group Lotus Has No Plans For F1 Move, Official Admits Korea Venue Not Quite Complete

Group Lotus has no plans to enter Formula One, despite fighting to prevent its name from being deployed in the category next year.

Tony Fernandes' Malaysian-backed Lotus Racing entered F1 this year with its name officially licenced by Lotus Car


Group Lotus has no plans to enter Formula One, despite fighting to prevent its name from being deployed in the category next year.

Tony Fernandes' Malaysian-backed Lotus Racing entered F1 this year with its name officially licenced by Lotus Cars, the famous British sports car maker.

But with Lotus Motorsport moving into racing next year with the GP2 team ART, it has withdrawn the license from Fernandes, who has instead bought the separate Team Lotus name from 1976 World Champion James Hunt's brother David.

The matter is now in the hands of the courts.

It might be said the decision to withdraw the license was related to Group Lotus' plans to enter F1 in the near future, but Lotus Motorsport's Claudio Berro insists this is not the case.

"This is not our decision at the moment because F1 has enormous costs," he told the Italian website 422race.com.

"I think that, if Lotus is to go into F1, they have to do it at the top and competing with the best teams, unlike this year," Berro said, clearly referring to Lotus Racing's current position near the rear of the 2010 grid.

He is not ruling out a change of position in the future, depending on the sport's regulations.

"Then if formula one will be accessible and the conditions will be there, we will see. It will be a future step," said Berro.

(GMM)

Official Admits Korea Venue Not Quite Complete

A spokesman has confirmed reports that aspects of Korea's new Formula One track are not complete.

The FIA's Charlie Whiting this week approved the Yeongam venue ahead of the inaugural race in less than a fortnight.

But media reports have indicated that safety requirements and the asphalt aside, the entire venue is not finished.

"Landscaping work to the surrounding area and parking lots still remains to be done," a spokesman for organisers KAVO told the Korea Herald.

"But we are finalising last-minute touches and can be ready on schedule," he added.

After the weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, the F1 teams' equipment and cars are already en route to the facility 320 kilometres south of Seoul.

Red Bull's Helmut Marko admitted the team is slightly worried about the layout, with the curvier sections punctuated by straights not suitable to the RB6's Renault engine.

"One of them is the longest straight on the calendar," he groaned, according to Auto Motor und Sport.

Nico Rosberg, however, expressed concerns that the crucial top layer of track has only just been laid.

"The only concern is the new asphalt," the Mercedes driver is quoted by Welt newspaper.

The media report recalled June 1985, when the Belgian GP at Spa had to be postponed for months because the new asphalt surface disintegrated.

(GMM)

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