Lotus in talks with Sauber sponsor Petronas
The three-year deal has secured the future of the nascent league after helping to bring its total backing to the required $3m, but any link between the backing and Fernandes' F1 venture is being discounted by the man himself.
"I have not talked to GE about F1 and I don’t think we will," he told the SportsPro Daily Deal newsletter, "GE was the one who believed in us and took a leap of faith when we started AirAsia and no banker would even serve us coffee."
The Air Asia chief executive has already stated that his airline will continue to back Williams rather than switching allegiance to Lotus, but the rumor mill continues to claim that the 'newcomer' will bid to take advantage of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the current BMW Sauber team to tempt Malaysian giant Petronas on board.
"We are certainly campaigning for Petronas to come over to us," he confirmed earlier this week, "We think it is logical, as a Malaysian team, that they should be somehow involved in it. But we'll have to make our case." Yahoo Sports
09/27/09 (GMM) The new Malaysian-owned Lotus F1 team is in talks about being sponsored next year by Petronas, the state owned oil company.
Petronas has been a long term sponsor of the BMW-Sauber team, who are being taken over by the mysterious investment group Qadbak but are not guaranteed a place on the 2010 grid.
Lotus boss Tony Fernandes, who is also in charge of the Williams sponsor AirAsia, confirmed the Petronas talks.
"We would love Petronas to sponsor us," he said at the verge of the Singapore grand prix.
It is also rumored that 2002 Minardi driver and Malaysian Alex Yoong, now 33, has joined the team, but will have a management role rather than a driving one.