Lotus Creates Junior Formula 1 Team

By Spenser Walters
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Lotus F1 Team is keeping the next generation of Formula 1 drivers within the family by launching their new Lotus F1 Junior Team.

The seven drivers, ranging in age from 14 to 22, will be supported by Lotus in all the necessary areas: driving skills, business ethics, social and mental development, physical fitness, and PR relations. During the course of the 2013 season they will race in a variety of different junior formulas.

Two drivers will be featured in Formula Renault 3.5 with Lotus World Series Team, while one competes in GP3 with Jenzer Motorsports. Three more young drivers will race in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, one with Kaufmann Racing, another with ART Junior Team, and a third with a yet to be announced team. The final, and youngest, driver will be featured in the Go Kart International KF category with Energy Corse.

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier said that this is a revamp of Lotus’ previous young driver program designed to keep the drivers closer to the F1 team.

It will be interesting to see what kind of results this program can yield. The three oldest drivers could be within range of competing for a seat with an F1 team in the next few years if they perform well enough in their assigned junior formulas.

Suspiciously absent from the list of drivers is the American Conor Daly who drove for Lotus GP, now  named ART Grand Prix, in the GP3 series during the 2012 season, and will apparently return to the team for 2013. This could mean one of two things: either Daly’s skills have advanced to the point that he is above the level of the Junior Team, or Lotus is not looking at him for a future Formula 1 spot. If the latter is true, I think Lotus is making a huge mistake. Putting an American in a seat would do wonders for their popularity in the US, which is already quite high given that fan favorite Kimi Raikkonen occupies one of their F1 seats at the moment. Hopefully we will see Daly in F1 soon, be it with Lotus or another team.

This junior team is a crafty way of developing young drivers with great potential while keeping them under the Lotus roof. You can almost think of it as a AAA-team in baseball. Lotus is helping talented drivers polish their skills, which is great for F1 as a whole, but they essentially get first crack at them when they are ready to advance. Smart move by Lotus.

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