Lotus left a considerable mark in the history of the prestigious Formula 1 racing championship. This famous British automaker has been a leader for many years and has repeatedly achieved excellent results. Today, Lotus is not present in F1, so we invite you to plunge into the past and remember the achievements of the legendary team.
50s
Lotus is a famous car manufacturer from the UK, which was founded in 1948 by design engineer Colin Chapman. Five years later, the company began participating in races and achieving good results. In the mid-50s, the team from Hethel (Norfolk, England) debuted in Formula 2 (the junior racing series of Formula 1) and, after a short time, appeared in F1. The future legend Graham Hill and his partner Cliff Allison were racing for Lotus at this time. Both drivers drove a Lotus 16, which was specially built for F1. In 1958-1959, significant changes occurred in the technical regulations; therefore, Colin Chapman even proposed using front-engine cars in racing. However, his opinions were not taken seriously, so the British team leader turned his attention to creating the Lotus 18, intended for competition in the next decade.
60s
In the early 60s, Lotus achieved its first F1 victory. This landmark event occurred at the 1961 US Grand Prix when no competitors could compete with the British driver Innes Ireland. After two years, the team became a complete triumph. Their Lotus 25 helped Briton Jim Clark win 7 out of 10 races and receive the well-deserved award of Formula 1 champion. Moreover, Lotus won the Constructors’ Championship ahead of BRM, Brabham, Ferrari and other famous teams.
In 1964, Lotus was among the favorites, and its drivers had long claimed victory in the championship. However, technical problems in one of the critical races prevented the desired results. In 1965, the updated Lotus 33 appeared. It became much better than its predecessor and left no chance for competitors. As a result, Jim Clark took his second title, and the team won the Constructors’ Championships by a wide margin. In 1968, Jim Clark crashed to his death at a non-F1 race. He lost control, and his Lotus 48 crashed into trees at high speed. This tragedy hurt the condition of the team members but still did not prevent Lotus from winning further personal and team trophies.
70s
The early 70s became another period of success for Lotus. The British manufacturer managed to design the Lotus 72, which became the only racing car at that time with a wedge-shaped front end. This solution improved the vehicle’s aerodynamic properties and helped break away even further from its competitors. In 1970, driving a Lotus 72, the Austrian driver Jochen Rindt won the first nine rounds of the championship five times. At the next Grand Prix in Monza, he had a severe accident and died. During the remaining races, no one could get ahead of Jochen Rindt in the overall standings, so the famous Austrian became the only champion in F1 history to be awarded the leading motorsport award posthumously. By tradition, Lotus became the season’s best team, beating Ferrari by only 7 points.
Lotus didn’t have long to wait for his subsequent success. In 1972, the Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi won 5 championship races and became the best overall. Together with their Australian team-mate David Walker, they brought Lotus its fifth team title. The following year, the Constructors’ Championship continued to dominate, but Emerson Fittipaldi lost the individual title to Tyrrell-Ford’s Jackie Stewart. In 1978, the British automaker released the Lotus 79, in which American Mario Andretti scored the most points and won his only title. Lotus also managed to snatch victory among the teams.
80s
In 1982, Lotus CEO Colin Chapman died. This tragic event started a decline in results, gradually eliminating the British from the list of the best teams. Peter Warr was entrusted with leading Lotus, who coped well with his responsibilities but could not fully replace Colin Chapman. In 1984, the team achieved a place on the Grand Prix podium several times, and its driver, Italian Elio de Angelis, became third in the championship.
In the 1985 season, the legendary Brazilian Ayrton Senna made his debut for Lotus. His talent helped the team get two victories and secure it in the top 5 of the overall standings. For the next three years, Lotus confidently remained among the leaders but no longer showed such outstanding results as before. During this time, we managed to win several grand prix and conduct about a dozen memorable races. In the late 1980s, the results became even less successful. In 1989, Lotus fell outside the top 5 in the team standings, and its drivers, Brazilian Nelson Piquet and Japanese Satoru Nakajima, failed to make a single Grand Prix podium.
90s and departure from F1
The drop in results and serious accidents led to the fact that many sponsors began to refuse cooperation with Lotus. This significantly reduced the team’s budget and turned it into one of the outsiders. Of the notable moments of this period, only the arrival of the future F1 king from Finland, Mika Hakkinen, to Lotus in 1991 should be noted. At that time, he was starting his career in F1, so he could not achieve profound results. In 1992, the Finn managed to compete for the podium several times, but all attempts were unsuccessful. These achievements can be called outstanding against the team’s frankly weak performance.
In 1994, the lack of ordinary financing led creditors to sue Lotus for debts. Because of this, the team could not finish work on their new car and was forced to participate in the championship using the previous season’s model. As a result, Lotus failed to score a single point in the tournament, which became one of its main disappointments. The team’s problems did not end there, so after the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, Lotus left F1. After ending its long history in motorsport, the British company turned its attention to the production of sports cars. They remain popular, thanks to which they are sold in car dealerships around the world and at special auctions, where it is possible to find a salvage Lotus at the highest possible affordable price.
Return to F1 for the period 2012-2015
The revival of the legendary British team took place in 2012. At this time, Lotus F1 appeared in racing, created based on the Renault F1, which had left the royal races. Its owner was the international financial company Genii Capital, which planned to bring the team to a high level immediately. She partially succeeded in doing this. In the 2012 season, Finn Kimi Raikkonen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and brought his car to the podium several times. His French teammate Romain Grosjean also performed quite successfully, but his results were worse than the legendary “The Iceman”. In the Constructors’ Championships, Lotus took 4th place, behind only the invincible Red Bull Ferrari and McLaren.
In the 2013 season, the results of Lotus F1 were slightly worse, but the same line-up of drivers got the team a place in the top 5 of the team standings. Of the races, the most memorable was the Australian Grand Prix, where Kimi Raikkonen won a magnificent victory. In the 2014 season, the famous Finn, who moved to Ferrari, was replaced by Pastor Maldonado from Venezuela. Together with Romain Grosjean, they could only earn points a few times and keep Lotus F1 in 8th place in the Constructors’ Championships. 2015, the situation improved slightly, but there were still no fundamental changes. After the end of the season, the team management announced its sale to Renault, which completed the modern stage of Lotus’ history in Formula 1.
There have been many teams in F1 history, but one of the most successful was Lotus. The cars of this British manufacturer have won seven Constructors’ Championships and also helped drivers become world champions six times and cross the finish line first 74 times. Today, Lotus is considered a legend of the past, but we hope that he will return to F1 shortly and be able to compete on equal terms with the best of the best.
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