Let's just have a a look back on what 2010 offered, beginning with this first installment.
CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR
Enjoyed a great start to the year here in Malaysia when the Lotus Racing team made their debut in Formula One. In the final three months of the year, that became a sticky issue with Malaysians at the centrestage of one of the most incomprehensible controversies in the history of F1.
It started off just fine, Lotus Racing operated by 1Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Berhad the holding company, with AirAsia entrepreneur Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes at the helm, emerging as the first Malaysian Formula One team.
National carmakers Proton, who own the British sportscar company Group Lotus Plc., were in agreement and allowed the team to run as Lotus Racing under licence. Proton even came up with a limited edition Proton Satria Neo Lotus Racing.
Then, somewhere in September, during the Singapore Grand Prix, this controversy unfolded, where Fernandes and gang bought over Team Lotus Ventures, the company that owns the Team Lotus brand, which operated as a separate entity from the car business, running the F1 and motorsport side of the business.
Proton were against this and all hell broke loose.
Group Lotus then announced they were going into GP2 with the French ART Grand Prix, with an entity to be known as Lotus-ART, while Fernandes announced the entry of Team AirAsia into the same series.
Group Lotus then announced an elaborate motorsport programme that included an engine supply deal for the Indycar series from 2012 and then stunningly confirmed their acquisition of a 25% stake in the RenaultF1 Team, for whom they will act as title sponsors from 2011. The team was renamed Lotus-Renault GP.
And to spark more fury in the evolving battle, Group Lotus presented a rendition of their 2011 car, which was clad in black and gold, a colour scheme that the Lotus Racing team had announced a month earlier they would be adopting from 2011 onwards.
So, there will be two teams running with the Lotus name in the coming F1 season - Fernandes' Team Lotus which will be using Renault engines and the Group Lotus-sponsored Lotus-Renault GP team, which obviously will be using similar engines as well.
While Proton and Group Lotus dispute the other's right to use the name Lotus in Formula One, this is now up for battle in the London High Court. There is also talk in the fraternity of Fernandes' Team Lotus considering a name change even before the court decides.
To make matters worse, many in Malaysia were confused further by inaccurate claims by many parties that the country should be proud in having THREE Formula One teams. There are no THREE Malaysian teams in F1. There's just ONE.
Let's correct this once and for all. There will, in 2011, be four teams with significant Malaysian involvement:
1) MercedesGP-Petronas: Which is the evolution of the BrawnGP team that ran in 2009, that came out of the BAR-Honda and Honda F1 teams. It is effectively a German team, which has the Malaysian oil company Petronas as a main sponsor.
2) Lotus-Renault GP: Which is the French RenaultF1 Team of previous years, now with the Malaysian-owned British company Group Lotus as a title sponsor. It is still a French team.
3) Marussia Virgin Racing: A British team owned by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, which has Russian sportscar manufacturer Marussia as title sponsor from 2011, while Malaysian company Qnet, a subsidiary of tycoon Datuk Vijay Eswaran's Qi Group, will be prominently displayed on the sidepods of their cars.
4) Team Lotus: The team run by 1Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Berhad, which could yet have a name change to something else prior to the start of the 2011 season. In all earnest, this is the only team that is registered as Malaysian and will have the Negaraku playing in honour of the constructors, should they win a race.
Malaysians nevertheless, did gain one thing in Formula One in 2010. Notoriety.
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