08-Dec-09: Lotus F1 Boss Wants to Stay On

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 8th December 2009.

Autosport is reporting that the boss of Lotus F1 Tony Fernandes will be staying on as team principal. The original plan was for him to see the team into existence, and maybe stick around for a race or two, but he’s thinking that he might stay on longer. He said: “The reality is that I will be real team principal. If you own an airline and say you are going to be an F1 team principal, then the shareholders are concerned. But now they are beginning to see that it is okay.” He added that he wouldn’t feel right abandoning the team so soon, considering that he was behind the whole idea in the first place.

Elsewhere, after announcing yesterday that Silverstone would be holding the British Grand Prix after all, they have seen a mass of tickets sold. Within 24 hours, they had sold almost six and a half thousand tickets, which is apparently a record amount. This is over £1 million in revenue, and organisers say they are very fortunate to have such fan support.

That’s all for now, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.