Lotus F1 Team Has New Sponsors

The Lotus F1 Team rolled out its new 2012 Formula 1, the E20, earlier today, along with announcing sponsorship plans for the 2012 season.The Renault-powered team has announced a joint sponsorship deal with CLEAR and Rexona, two of the world's biggest personal care brands. Rexona, originally created in Australia by a pharmacist and his wife in 1908, is the world's largest deodorant brand, marketing in more than 60 countries. CLEAR is an anti-dandruff shampoo for men and women."We are very proud to have been selected by CLEAR and Rexona and are very much looking forward to working with our two newest partners through 2012 and beyond," said Eric Boullier, team principal for Lotus F1 Team. "The passion for business and desire to win is shared both at our factory here and in the offices of CLEAR and Rexona--this will ensure a very beneficial partnership in the years to come."The nomenclature for the new F1 car--which continues the evocative black and gold Lotus livery--is E20. That name commemorates the 20th chassis designed at the team's Enstone base through its Benetton, Renault F1 Team and Lotus Renault GP history. This year marks the 500th Grand Prix contested by the team in its various incarnations.Toleman Motorsport entered F1 in 1981 and started 57 races; in 1986 the team was renamed Benetton and conducted 260 races. In 2002 the team became Renault F1 team and contested 159 Grands Prix until becoming Lotus Renault for 2011 and in its current guise, starts the season with 495 races under its belt.For 2012, the Lotus F1 Team has produced a combined ground-up redesign and optimization of previous Enstone design philosophy. The forward-facing exhausts of 2011's R31 are abandoned this year--both through regulation and necessity, the team said. The E20 also features a 'step' on its nose, the layout also the result of a regulation change.Front and rear suspension layouts have been substantially revised in the quest for ever-better aerodynamic efficiency, while the front wing is a continuation of concepts used by the team during recent seasons. The Lotus F1 Team used a new 60 percent wind tunnel for enhanced design and development of E20 and its enhanced CFD facility, both located on-site at Enstone.