SINGAPORE — Lotus, one of the new Formula One teams for next season, says its first car will be ready by December, giving it a full off-season of testing before its appearance in Bahrain next March.
The new team revives one of the grand names of motor sport, with Lotus having won seven F1 constructors' titles in its previous incarnation.
The rebirth is a Malaysian venture, backed by the national government and to be based at the Sepang circuit outside Kuala Lumpur.
"We are estimating that to get the car on the grid will cost us between 20-30 million pounds (C$35-52 million), which will be equity financed by the shareholders, and we estimate the running costs of the team to be around 55 million pounds (C$96 million) - that will be the bottom end of the budgets," team principal Tony Fernandes said.
"This budget will come through sponsorship, and obviously there are a lot of Malaysian sponsors now who want to get involved. We will raise that money."
Fernandes, the chief of AirAsia, will remain in management control but hand over the running of the outfit to a full-time team principal, who will have a say in choosing the drivers.
"(What would be) ideal would be an experienced driver and a rookie, but there is no name that I can drop this very moment," Fernandes said.
PIT LANE POP STARS: Beyonce Knowles, in Singapore to perform Saturday at the F1 Rocks concerts, caused quite a stir in the paddock when she arrived to visit McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton and F1 boss Bernie Eccelstone.
Minutes later, Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls, Hamilton's girlfriend, showed up and Knowles, Scherzinger and Hamilton held hands and walked over to the McLaren pits as photographers and cameramen scrambled to get a picture of the trio.
Asked if she was an F1 fan, Knowles replied: "Yes, I am, obviously."
She declined to say who her favourite team was.
WHITE FOR NIGHT AS FERRARI DROPS RED: There is no more recognizable trademark in motor sport than the scarlet Ferrari, which makes the latest F1 fashion statement all the more curious.
While the cars will be in their familiar livery, team members are getting around the Singapore paddock dressed in white.
"We wanted to do something different for the night race," Ferrari explained on its website.
Like it or not, Ferrari's fashions were preferable to the clothing predicament at Renault.
The hasty withdrawal of major sponsor ING - after Renault was found guilty of fixing the 2008 race - meant the name of the insurance company had been taken off the cars and removed from various signs around the garage and motor home.
However, there was no time to arrange alternative clothing for the mechanics and technicians, who are sheepishly still wandering the paddock emblazoned with the name of the sponsor who walked out.
NOT SO FAST ON PIQUET - OK?: There are mixed signals coming out of 2010 team Manor GP over whether it would consider signing Nelson Piquet Jr. as a driver for next season.
The F1 newcomer has not announced its driver lineup and is one of a number of teams linked with the Brazilian, whose reputation was left in tatters when he admitted deliberately crashing in the 2008 Singapore race to help then-Renault teammate Fernando Alonso win.
Manor team principal John Booth was quoted in the English press as saying he would be interested in Piquet, describing him somewhat cheekily as a "smashing little driver."
However, Manor's key sponsor, Virgin, which is defecting from Brawn GP, is less than keen on the young Brazilian.
"What I can say is that, as a director of the main board of Virgin, I can assure you that we would never have anybody in a team sponsored by us who cheats," Virgin's Alex Tai told Autosport.
Former F1 drivers Anthony Davidson and Christian Klien have both held talks with Manor.
Associated Press Writer Alex Kennedy contributed to this report.
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