Lotus, a long tradition of F1 - Formula 1

Lotus does not win the world championship F1 already 35 years old, and yet it can be considered one of the teams that entered the history of this sport: not only for success (13 world titles - six pilots and seven constructors - between the sixties and seventies), but also for an impressive amount champions for this team.

Let's discover together the history of the British team, which has always been a hotbed of talent (seven world champions made their debut with this team) and was characterized by many ups and downs.

Lotus: a story in F1

La Lotus debuts in Formula 1 at the 1958 Monte Carlo Grand Prix with two British drivers: Cliff Ellison (6th place at the finish) e Graham Hill (failure due to engine failure). The best result of the season was achieved in Belgium, when Allison touched the podium and finished fourth. Next year it was the turn of another of His Majesty's subjects, Innes Ireland (fourth place in the Netherlands), nearly making it into the top three.

First victories

The sixties started great: in 1960, the "British" team took second place in the World Constructors' Championship thanks to Briton Stirling Moss, who won the team's first victory in Monte Carlo and repeated it in the USA. In 1961, Moss scores two more successes (Monte Carlo and Germany), while Ireland dominates the US, and the following year, three wins (Belgium, UK and US) by the British. Jim Clark they are not enough to win a world title.

It was Jim Clark

1963 - a golden year for the team Colin Chapman – Founder who won the World Constructors' Championship thanks to Clark, became the World Drivers' Champion with seven victories (Belgium, Holland, France, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico and South Africa). Things got worse the following year when the "British" rider took "only" three victories (Holland, Belgium and Great Britain).

La Lotus he returned to dominance in 1965, repeating the world title once again: once again thanks solely to Clark, who crossed the finish line six times ahead of everyone else (South Africa, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Holland and Germany). Change of regulation in 1966 (engines went from 1.500 to 3.000 cc) finds the British team unprepared, having achieved only one success in the USA. The team justifies itself in 1967 with four successes - again by Clark (Holland, Great Britain, USA and Mexico) - but the results are not enough for the champion.

In 1968, Clarke won the first race of the season - in South Africa - but died three months later in an F2 race.

Hill and Rindt

La Lotus he has a winning car, and despite the death of his most representative driver, he takes home both of that year's World Championships thanks to three British victories. Graham Hill (Spain, Monte Carlo and Mexico), which allow him to get an iris among the drivers, as well as to exploit the Swiss. Joe Siffert - the first non-British to cut Lotus on the top step of the podium - in the UK. Single 49Bpainted in red and gold colors of cigarettes Gold leaf and no longer with the classic English green, it made motorsport history as the first car sponsored by the Circus.

1969 is a transition year when Hill wins in Monte Carlo and in Austria. Jochen Rindt prevails in the USA. The latter dominates the 1970 season with five wins (Monte Carlo, Holland, France, Great Britain and Germany), loses his life in the Italian Grand Prix, but still managed to win the World Championship (the only one in history to have been awarded posthumously). The title of constructors was won by Lotus, thanks in part to the success of the Brazilian team. Emerson Fittipaldi in USA.

Fittipaldi World Cup

In 1971, Chapman put too much emphasis on the development of a one-seat car with four-wheel drive, and this affected the results: for the first time since 1960 there was no victory (the second place for Fittipaldi in Austria was the best) Lotus.

The situation definitely improves in 1972 when Fittipaldi becomes world champion (thanks to five wins: Spain, Belgium, Britain, Austria and Italy) and allows his team to take home the constructors' world championship. The following year, the team title was repeated with three wins by Fittipaldi (Argentina, Brazil and Spain) and four by the Swede. Ronnie Peterson (France, Austria, Italy and the USA).

Decline and rise

The only satisfaction for Lotus in 1974 they come from Peterson (winner in Monte Carlo, France and Italy), and in 1975 the only podium - the fault of an outdated car - belongs to a Belgian. Jackie X (second in Spain).

The ascent began in 1976 with the success of the American Mario Andretti in the last round of the season, which the GP of Japan spoke about in the film "Rush", and in 1977 the English team touched the title of Constructors with Andretti (first in the West of the USA, in Spain, in France and in Italy) and with the Swede Gunnar Nielsson (ahead of everyone else in Belgium).

The last world championship

The last world championship Lotus dates back to 1978: a joyful and tragic year for Colin Chapman's team. Andretti becomes world champion with six wins (Argentina, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany and Holland), and his teammate Peterson (two wins in South Africa and Austria), who returned to Lotus after leaving the team in a crisis, loses his life ... in an accident at the Italian Grand Prix. After a month, Nilsson also disappears due to a tumor.

Air of crisis

After the two-time world title for the "British" team, a period of crisis ensues, which over the next three years never rose to the top step of the podium: the Argentinean has the best results. Carlos Reitemann (2nd place in Argentina and Spain in 1979), from our Elio de Angelis (2nd place in Brazil in 1980) and the British Nigel Mansell (3rd place in Belgium in 1981).

Goodbye, Chapman

La Lotus return to victory in 1982 - in Austria - thanks to de Angelis. That same year, Colin Chapman died of a heart attack. The next two years were poor (Mansell finished third in the 1983 European Grand Prix, in France and the Netherlands in 1984, and de Angelis third in Brazil, San Marino and Dallas in 1984).

Last moments of happiness

Brazilian driver's signature Ayrton Senna in 1985, this allows the British team to return to victory. The South American dominates Portugal (his first career success) and Belgium, while his teammate de Angelis climbs to the top of the San Marino podium.

From next year, the only successes for Lotus they are from Ayrton: two in 1986 (Spain and Detroit) and two in 1987 (Monte Carlo and Detroit).

Dark times

Senna gave up Lotus in 1988 when the Brazilian Nelson Piquet manages to take three third places (Brazil, San Marino and Australia). From that moment on, nothing: in 1989, the British team almost climbed the podium several times (three fourth places in Pique in Canada, Great Britain and Japan and one of the Japanese). Satoru Nakajima in Australia), and in 1990 the best result - the fifth place of the British. Derek Warwick in Hungary.

In 1991 Lotus he relies primarily on Finnish Mika Hekkinen (fifth in San Marino), which was twice in fourth in France and Hungary the following year. British Johnny Herbert (fourth place in Brazil, at the Grand Prix of Europe and Great Britain in 1993 and seventh in Brazil at the Grand Prix of the Pacific and in France in 1994, the first year without points for the English team) gets the best places of the team before parting with the Circus.

Or rhetorically

La Lotus returns to Formula 1 in 2010, but the team has very few elements in common with the one that left the Circus in 1994. Firstly, it is no longer British, but Malaysian, since it was born from a consortium formed by some entrepreneurs from an Asian country and the government of Kuala Lumpur, which it receives from the car manufacturer Proton (a native of Malaysia and the owner of the "British" brand) the right to use the historical name to work in the Circus.

The team played for two seasons without winning a single point: the first year is Finn. Heikki Kovalainen ranks 12th in Japan, while thirteenth places arrive next year: two with our Jarno Trulli (Australia and Monte Carlo) and another with Kovalainen (Italy).

Leap in quality

In 2012, after a long legal battle, the name Lotus it is used for former Renault single-seater vehicles (a team already sponsored by the British manufacturer a year earlier). The team, officially back in English, wins the Grand Prix (the one in Abu Dhabi with the Finn Kimi Raikkonen) after twenty-five years of starvation and in 2013 brings home a new success, again with Raikkonen in Australia.