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As expected the company that builds Lotus cars for the road has won the High Court battle over the use of the Lotus name in Formula 1. The legal tussle began sometime ago when both Group Lotus and 1 Malaysia Racing Team a.k.a. Team Lotus, run by AirAsia head honcho Tony Fernandes basically parted ways when Group Lotus claimed that Team Lotus had breached the Lotus name (as 'Team Lotus' confusingly) licensing agreement. However, Justice Peter Smith, the presiding jugde over this matter had also ruled that Team Lotus also retained the right to race in Formula One under its existing name. That basically means that Group Lotus can continue racing through its sponsorship of the Renault team (or in full the Lotus-Renault GP team) and Team Lotus continues as Team Lotus Anyway, other judgments awarded was the right for Group Lotus to use the black and gold livery. This basically means that Team Lotus must stick to their current British Racing Green and yellow livery. Team Lotus was instructed to pay Group Lotus for damages on the breach of the licensing agreement. How much has not been stated. So Team Lotus cannot use anything related to Group Lotus or in that whether it has any relation to the road-going cars that Lotus builds as Group Lotus was also adjudged in the same matter that they have the right to continue to use the Lotus name on road cars. Group Lotus may have won this battle but this basically means that there will still be two Lotus named teams racing in Formula 1. So they are mounting an appeal on the matter

It seems the pre-F1 promotion has begun in Kuala Lumpur with the people at Lotus-Renault GP showing off their Lotus Renault R31 Formula 1 car at the Pavillion Shopping Mall over there recently. There was only the car, an LCD Screen stating some facts and the stand on which the car sits. This is a prelude of the F1 promotions and Lotus Renault are starting it off in line with the Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix which is set for the 8th, 9th and 10th of April 2011. The Lotus Renault R31 on display must have been the car they used for its official unveiling as it is different from the car that is currently on the official website. This car has a smaller nose cone and some of the rear wing slats are missing. It is pretty obvious as in F1, everything moves ridiculously fast and week after week of wind tunnel testing would result in aerodynamic improvement that changes the design of the car. The 2011 season will be the team's inaugural season after the Renault GP team was bought over by Lotus. Since Proton owns Lotus, the Malaysian company seems to feel that the Sepang F1 is the 'home' race for Lotus Renault GP. Hence the very early start in promotions. Now note that PETRONAS, the Malaysian oil & gas giant also feels that since they are the main sponsors of the Mercedes GP Petronas team, they will surely ramp up promotion and events over at the Petronas Twin Towers soon. Last year, it was like a carnival there, with Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg driving their cars as well as giving interviews then. And we also have to add that little fact that the previous Lotus sanctioned team Team Lotus will also think of Sepang as its home race too. Formerly Lotus Racing and also referred to by the company name 1Malaysia F1 Team by the Malaysian media and parliament is a Formula One team, which made its debut in the 2010 F1 season. The team was set up by a group of Malaysian businessmen, using a licence from Lotus Cars owner Proton to use the Lotus name in Formula One. After having that licence terminated for further seasons, the team will use the historic Team Lotus name in the 2011 season,but are now facing legal action from Group Lotus and parent company Proton over the use of the Lotus name. On 24 January 2011, a judge at the