Quote:
Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull
And why can't they afford this after finishing 4th in the constructors for the 2nd season running?
Why has talent had to suffer?
These are the big issues here...
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It seems to me that Lotus simply spent big those years, without having a good sponsor. As a result they owe a lot of money now. The money is provided by the owners, Genii Capital, but a lot of it was a loan, not sponsorship deal. Even though the Lotus team can collect considerable amount of prize money (someone estimated, over 100M), they also have a huge debt of over $100M to Genii Capital.
I think the issue here is that Lotus spends like a factory team, even though they're no longer a factory team, and without significant sponsors. And realistically, this is the way things were since the 80s. Except for an occasional fluke win, like Brawn in 09, the winning teams were either owned by major brands or car factories or they had some wealthy sponsors, often tobacco companies. That's the way it was for about 30 years now. That some teams are struggling is nothing new. Even the original Team Lotus went belly up in the 90s.