Bernie Ecclestone pushing for meeting over Lotus and Renault name changes

As AUTOSPORT revealed yesterday, a bid to try and get approval for the two outfits to change names from the Formula 1 Commission via a fax vote has been scuppered after Ferrari, Sauber and HRT requested that the matter be debated properly in a formal meeting.

It is understood that the three outfits want a proper discussion about the implications of the name change and how the F1 brand will be affected by Team Lotus switching to Caterham and Renault switching to Lotus.

For the name changes to be approved, there must be support from 18 of the 26 members of the F1 Commission - which is made up of the teams, Ecclestone, FIA president Jean Todt plus representatives of sponsors, engine manufacturers and circuits.

With the FIA regulations stating that the list of cars and drivers for the 2012 world championship must be published on or before November 30, the F1 Commission must therefore meet before that date to make its decision.

On the back of that time pressure, sources have revealed that Ecclestone has written to the teams and the other F1 Commission members to ask them to consider meeting on November 3 - the week after the Indian Grand Prix.

Article 13.5 of F1's Sporting Regulations states: "All applications will be studied by the FIA and accepted or rejected, subject to the provisions of The 2009 Concorde Agreement. The FIA will publish the list of cars and drivers accepted together with their race numbers on or before 30 November of the year prior to the year to which the applications relate, having first notified unsuccessful applicants as set out in Article 13.1."