Ayrton Senna in a Lotus-Renault 97T, 1985
Active years: 1958-1994, 2010-
History
The team run by Colin Chapman was one of the leading outfits of the sixties and seventies. Drivers like Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti won championships in a series of ground-breaking Lotuses.
Lotus made periodical leaps ahead in technology – like the Cosworth DFV-powered 49, the wedge-shaped 72 and the ground effect 79 – which left the opposition reeling. But they were prone to producing over-ambitious and unreliable cars.
The team never won another championship after the death of Chapman in 1982, though it did win several races with the up-and-coming Ayrton Senna in the mid-eighties. By the early nineties the team was on its last legs and collapsed before the 1995 season.
The Lotus name returns to F1 in 2010 but although the team is still based in Hethel near Norfolk in England, it is no longer run by the same company which builds Lotus cars.
Headquarters
Lotus F1 Racing
Hingham Industrial Estate
Ironside Way
Hingham
Norfolk
NR9 4LF
United Kingdom
Major team personnel
Team principal: Tony Fernandes
CEO: Riad Asmet
Chief technical officer: Mika Gascoyne
Head of operations: Mia Sharizman Ismail
Chief operating officer: Keith Saunt
General manager (UK): Paul Craig
Drivers
See the complete list of Lotus F1 drivers.
Image (C) Lotus
Some proof-reading for you:
“But they were are prone”
Thanks Ajokay, fixed.
Couple of corrections:
1) Hethel is IN Norfolk, it is near Norwich, Norfolk.
2) Lotus F1 Racing is based in Hingham, Norfolk – Lotus Cars are based at Hethel.