Yoong slams Petronas’ Lotus snub

(GMM) Former F1 driver Alex Yoong has slammed Petronas' decision to become title sponsor to the Mercedes GP team.

Yoong, who contested 18 grands prix for Minardi in 2001-2, has joined the new Malaysian-owned Lotus team as its head of Asian driver development.

Team Lotus, a joint initiative of the Malaysian government and Malaysian entrepreneurs, had hoped to secure the backing of Petronas, the state-owned oil company.

But after a long association with the Swiss team Sauber, Kuala Lumpur-based Petronas has instead signed a new long term deal to be the rebranded Brawn team's title sponsor.

"Words fail me," Yoong, now 33, wrote on his Twitter page.

"Mercedes (is) a good team, no doubt, but what Lotus is doing is completely ground breaking and brave and Petronas not seeing that fills me with shame," he added.