Team Lotus promoted Riad Asmat to Group CEO

Asmat played a key role in the formation and development of Team Lotus in 2009, joining the team after being General Manager at Proton Holdings. He has previously worked at Nike and been involved in the Sepang circuit and A1GP.

Asmat is also credited with the establishing of the Team AirAsia GP2 squad - which recorded its first win at Monaco in May - and the acquisition of Caterham Cars and a number of related businesses.

His promotion comes just five days after team owner Tony Fernandes announced he was buying the QPR football team from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and fellow shareholder Flavio Briatore.

"I am very honoured," Asmat said, "to be given the chance to help lead such an exciting group of companies and to be able to play my part in helping lead us on the future successes that will come our way.

"Big challenges lie ahead of us, but with the inspiration and passion of Tony [Fernandes], Kamarudin [Meranun] and [SM] Nasarudin to call on I am excited about what lies ahead.

"In F1 the goal remains the same - grow over the long-term and achieve our goals in realistic timeframes. Next year we need to take another step up and we have the building blocks in place to enable us to do that."

Tony Fernandes commented: "We are absolutely delighted Riad has taken on the role of Group CEO and could not have placed our faith in a better person to lead our businesses forward.

"Riad is not alone in having a unique attitude to wanting to achieve great things - the same can be said for each and every person we have working across the group and that foundation gives us the best possible chance of achieving our long-term goals, whichever industry we are involved in."

It is not clear whether Asmat's promotion will result in changes to the Team Lotus structure.