Former Lotus boss Warr passes away

Former Lotus team boss Peter Warr died at the age of 72 on Monday.

Warr, who joined Lotus Cars in 1958 as a salesman, was appointed team manager by founder Colin Chapman at the end of the 1969 season and he worked for the outfit for seven years.

He helped mastermind the World Championships of Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi in 1970 and 1972 respectively and also worked with Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna in their early days. Warr also worked with Ronnie Peterson, Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti and Gunnar Nilsson before leaving to join the new Wolf team for the 1977 season.

Warr took over as team principal when Chapman died in 1982 and remained with Lotus until 1989.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone paid tribute to Warr.

"Not only have I lost a good friend who was the Team Manager for Lotus when Colin Chapman ran the company but Peter Warr, who died yesterday of a heart attack will be missed by the thousands of people that knew him," he said in a statement on the official F1 website.

"When Peter was in Formula One he helped me to build it to what it is today."

Lotus Racing team principal Tony Fernandes described Warr as someone with "knowledge, spirit and passion for Lotus".

"Peter was a great supporter of our racing aspirations and it was fantastic to meet someone with such knowledge, spirit and passion for Lotus and for our sport," said Fernandes.