The current F1 grid is filled with financially stable teams but that wasn’t always the case
In 2023, all of the teams on the F1 grid are financially stable institutions enjoying the rewards of booming valuations, spurred on by the sport’s growing success following the Drive to Survive popularity boom. However, one decade ago this was far from the case with several teams joining the grid, only to exit a couple of years later. Lotus was one such case.However, unlike minnows such as Marussia and HRT, Lotus arrived on the scene in F1 ready to fight at the top end of the grid. Not to be confused with the Lotus team that was eventually rebranded to Caterham, this project was born following a rebrand of the existing Renault team in 2012.
With an exciting new brand and name attached to the project, Lotus needed an exciting driver pairing to match. Their answer was to bring 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen out of the F1 wilderness, partnering him with Romain Grosjean.The Finnish driver opted to take a break from Grand Prix racing after leaving Ferrari at the end of 2009, spending time driving rally cars, while also making his debut in NASCAR. His return to the F1 grid in 2012 was secured by one of the most remarkable contracts in the sport’s modern history
Lotus – expecting to be running in the midfield at best – had offered Raikkonen a bonus of £42,800 for every World Championship point he accumulated during the 2012 campaign. When the Enstone-based outfit watched team-mate Grosjean qualify third on the grid for the season opener, alarm bells started to ring.
After a relatively tentative opening three races, Raikkonen and Lotus found their form. Over the course of the 2012 season, the ‘Iceman’ scored seven podiums and a Grand Prix win in Abu Dhabi, ending the year third in the standings with a mammoth 207-point haul.
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