The floundering fortunes of F1’s many Lotus reboots

Team Lotus ceased to exist in 1994 - and yet various parties have been trying to resurrect the hallowed name, in increasingly unrecognisable forms, ever since. DAMIEN SMITH brings GP Racing’s history of the legendary team to an end with a look at those who sought to keep the flame alive in Formula 1

Let’s be clear: the story of Team Lotus as an active, contemporary Formula 1 team ended sadly but decisively at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix. Everything else after that, at least in terms of cars carrying the Lotus name on to F1 grids, should be considered – to resort to that hateful modern phrase – fake news.

Most of what has followed in the past 27 years has little or nothing to do with Colin Chapman’s hallowed F1 legacy, which was guarded and maintained for a dozen more years after his death in 1982 by the three Peters: Warr, Wright and Collins. It’s a pity really that our story couldn’t have been wrapped up in five chapters.