Lotus chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne has extended his contract with the team for five more years.
Gascoyne said he intends to finish his career with the team:
Having started the team from scratch with Tony it was always my intention to finish my career here, so it’s great to have formally agreed a five year deal.
We’ve had a great start to our partnership together, and I’m looking forward to continuing that for the next five years, and even beyond that.
Mike Gascoyne
Team principal Tony Fernandes said:
Mike’s five year deal is a major announcement for the whole Lotus Racing team.
It shows just how serious we are, not only about how far ahead we are setting our aspirations, but also as a reward to Mike for the incredibly hard work he and the team have already put in to get us from literally four people back in September ’09 to our current position as a serious F1 player with a very bright future ahead of us.
Tony Fernandes
wasiF1
29th September 2010, 8:51
I think Lotus will improve like Force India did, as Mike have a good experience working with one of the big team Toyota with whom he had a good season in 2005 I doubt anyone will question this deal.
DGR-F1
29th September 2010, 10:30
I wonder if Lotus will still be around in 5 years time?
wasiF1
29th September 2010, 10:42
Sure they will if they invest the money in the right place & don’t do too much work on other places. I think Mike may also be in the team which will lead their car for Le Mans.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
29th September 2010, 19:06
I’m pretty sure the LeMans car is planned by Group Lotus (the car manufacturer), not Lotus the F1 team. Given the current relationship between the two I think it’s safe to say Gascoyne won’t have any involvement.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th September 2010, 10:50
I think you could say that about half the teams on the grid.
In fact, go back five years and half the teams on the grid have either gone or changed hands:
Toyota (gone)
BAR (later Honda, then Brawn, now Mercedes)
Sauber (later BMW, now Sauber again)
Jordan (later Midland, then Spyker, now Force India)
Minardi (now Toro Rosso)
Jim N
29th September 2010, 10:46
Mike is not always the nicest of people but he’s almost always done a good job with every team that he has been with, and this year he has been excellent. It’s a great vote of confidence, and I am very happy with that decision and think it bodes well for the Team Lotus future.
Julian (@julian)
29th September 2010, 10:53
Good news this. Cannot wait to see Lotus get up there and challenge the midfield, hopefully next year, if not, 2012.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
29th September 2010, 19:10
The fact that they’re beating the other new teams by quite a bit and had far less time to prepare their car seems proof they can develop at a much higher rate. That, coupled with the fact that they’ll have a Renault engine and gearbox next year should see them make a good leap forward.
David McVey
29th September 2010, 12:15
This is good news for the Lotus Team. Mike seems to thrive in underdog situations. It was he who laid the foundations for Alonso’s back to back titles at renault and presided over Toyota’s most succesful season in F1. Also, lets not forget he made Frentzen a dark horse for the championship at Jordan too in 1999, Schumacher was out with a gammy leg and Hakkinen was making several uncharacteristic mistakes like his error at Monza which gifted the win to Frentzen. All this coupled with the Jordan being the 3rd quickest car and occasionally the equal of the Ferrari and Mclaren gave Jordan their best season. Make no mistake, Gascoyne will turn this team around, expect points finishes next year.
daykind (@)
29th September 2010, 16:47
Do you think that Mike regrets leaving Force India?
Snobeck
29th September 2010, 17:15
With Kovy, Mike, and Tony being so committed, and with more time to build and develop a car for 2011, they should be a decent mid-field team. I’ll be cheering for them!
Matt G
30th September 2010, 20:21
Me too looking forward to next season as they have been designing the 2011 car for a few mounths already, also I hope that they win their legal dispute with lotus group and it doesn’t take too long.