The future is still clouded, but Lotus at least has a full driver lineup for the 2016 season. 2014 GP2 champion and current team reserve Jolyon Palmer, it was announced on Friday, will be Pastor Maldonado's teammate. Briton Palmer is the son of former F1 driver Jonathan Palmer, but despite his successes he is understood to be bringing millions to the troubled Enstone team for 2016.
Already this year, 24-year-old Palmer's appearances on Fridays have reportedly cost his father and backers more than $300,000 per practice session. So combined with the polarising figure Maldonado and his PDVSA millions, the team's driver lineup is raising eyebrows, because a letter of intent says Renault will soon buy Lotus and make it a fully-fledged works team for 2016.
Renault has outwardly lofty ambitions for 2016, as technical official Remi Taffin declared on Friday that a new engine specification - to debut in Brazil - will be worth a few tenths of a second per lap. As for 2016, "Our goal is to find between a half and a full second," he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport. "We need to close the gap to the front."
Currently, however, there is no confirmation even that the French carmaker's F1 project will extend beyond 2015 at all. Indeed, Red Bull is reportedly back in talks to patch up its relationship with its current supplier, but boss Christian Horner played that down on Friday.
"I think until they commit to whether they're going to be in formula one or not, it's difficult at this stage to take that (the talks) any further," he said.
So it means Lotus' future is also terminally clouded at present, even though the official line is that Renault intends to buy - and therefore rescue - the Enstone team. "It's difficult for us to talk in any great detail but we certainly have an idea of the route we are going to go down next year," said team CEO Matthew Carter. "We can't confirm anything at this stage but we certainly are heading down that route and things back at Enstone are taking shape."
The Renault situation means that not only Maldonado and Palmer's futures, but also the quartet of Red Bull-contracted drivers, are in very real peril.
"Well, I don't know," lead Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo told the Spanish daily El Pais. "I always try to think positively and I cross my fingers that the situation doesn't turn against me, but even if Red Bull decides to go I think I've done enough to get a few other teams interested."
Jolyon Palmer announced by Lotus for 2016
- Published on 24 Oct 2015 13:13
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- By: Danny Sosef
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Driver profile
- Team Renault
- Points 27
- Podiums 0
- Grand Prix 19
- Country Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
- Date of b. Mar 9 1985 (41)
- Place of b. Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
- Weight 68 kg
- Length 1.73 m
- 27,547 comments on Renault
9 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Pastor Maldonado
Team profile
- Team name Red Bull Racing
- Base Milton Keynes, Leafield, Austria
- Liam Lawson
- Sebastian Vettel 1
- Sebastian Vettel 1
- Sebastian Vettel 1
- Sebastian Vettel 1
- Daniel Ricciardo 3
- Sebastian Vettel 5
- Isack Hadjar 6
- Pierre Gasly 10
- Sergio Perez 11
- Sebastian Vettel 15
- Yuki Tsunoda 22
- Daniil Kvyat 26
- Max Verstappen 33
- 907,972 comments on Red Bull Racing
- 687 members have this team as their favourite
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