Lotus F1 announces 3 new appointments

Lotus F1 Racing announced on Sunday three senior appointments to its team as the Malaysia-based motorsport team gears up for its debut season in the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Motorsports Association of Malaysia (MAM) Chief Operating Officer, Mia Sharizman Ismail was appointed Lotus F1 Racing's Head of Operations (Asia), former Malaysian F1 driver Alex Yoong as Head of Driver Development (Asia) alongside United Kingdom-based Litespeed Formula 3 Team Principal Nino Judge as the Head of Driver Development (Europe).

Lotus F1 Racing Team Principal Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, in a press release here, said: 'These new senior appointments will be a great boost for Lotus F1 Racing. The team have achieved many important milestones and we are on track to be on the grid in Bahrain next year.'

Mia would oversee selected areas of the team's operations including promotion, nurturing alliances with motorsports bodies in the region, and tasked with studying the team's race operations currently based in United Kingdom with the aim of transferring knowledge and expertise back to Malaysia.

Yoong and Judge will co-host Lotus F1 Racing's driver development program with the aim of nurturing young drivers program for future development in Malaysia, Asia and Europe.

Meanwhile, Lotus F1 Chief Executive Officer Riad Asmat said: 'The young driver development scheme will play a key role in finding and developing future Malaysian drivers and it is great that Litespeed can play such an important role in that process. There is a lot of raw motorsport talent in Malaysia and as the country's national F1 team, it is our responsibility to bring that to the fore.