Lotus F1 Racing Team

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) — Six drivers have been shortlisted for the 1Malaysia-Lotus F1 Team, Lotus F1 team principal Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said on Thursday.

He said Fairuz Fauzy was the only Malaysian driver on the list.

However, when asked whether Italian Jarno Trulli was also on the list, he remained tight-lipped.

“What I can say is, Fairuz Fauzy is on the list. We will announce the line-up in November,” he told Bernama after delivering a talk at Universiti Malaya here.

“I hope the Malaysian driver will be selected as either the second driver or third driver for the team,” he said.

The 27-year-old Fauzy is currently competing in the World Series by Renault, and also had a stint in GP2 and is racing for A1 Team Malaysia.

He was also the reserve and test driver for the Spyker F1 team.

Trulli, who is currently with Toyota, was reported to be the frontrunner to join Lotus after his current team said his contract was unlikely to be renewed for 2010.

Fernandes said out of 6,500 applications to work for the team, 300 were for the technical side.

“It’s fantastic. I saw a lot of enthusiasm and excitement from these people. We will only be taking 50 technical people and will be announcing it next week,” he said.

Citing the team technical director Mike Gascoyne as one of the world’s finest people in the field, he said he was impressed with the progress done by Gascoyne, who has had McLaren, Sauber, Renault and Toyota under his belt.

“So, you can always see the benefit of F1. It is a good start. It started as a dream but the dream is becoming more of a reality now,” he added.

– BERNAMA