HSE, Quality and Risk Management Blog

Open letter to Tony Fernandes regarding Team Lotus name in 2011

Dear Sir,

The spark rises upon the name Lotus which I strongly believe that this team has the 100% right to use. I want to share my two-cent on this matter, from a risk management view. You converted me from Ferrari to Lotus, so I would like to contribute some of my ideas regarding this matter. Please, read to the end, it won’t be long. I Promise.

1. Get Popular

What I say here by getting popular is get the influence. We know very well how to attract fans this year. But fans only are not sufficient. Get more by getting closer to Mahathir Mohamad, the ex prime minister of Malaysia. Get more popular by attracting the enemies, I mean here the other F1 teams to approve the use of Team Lotus name to this team. World of Fourmula 1 is in fact a very closed world. From the beginning, we cannot get inside without the help of the inside guys. The recognition of our performance this year from other teams make us a stronger contender for the Lotus name.

2. Win the legal battle

You have done a perfectly thought move : Bring the matter to the court. Here, we must win. Dig hard and harder on the use of the Team Lotus in the past. Put the best lawyers, who will defend our colors by giving strong arguments. Team Lotus and Lotus Cars are always two different entities in the past. Even the bankruptcy of the team in 1994 was the result of this separation. You bought the old team and the right. By doing this, you revived the dead from it’s grave. Battle hard to put inside other juries’ head that this is our effort, not Lotus Cars’.

3. Bring the money and the sponsors

F1 Team cannot stand alone without the sponsors’ money. Air Asia and Tune Group has done extremely well this year. Bring the big guns inside to promote the use of the Lotus name. Bring on those big promoters in the calibre of McDonald and Coca Cola. With their help, the Lotus name will only get stronger. Combining on other marks will help us be the only Lotus team recognized internationally.

4. MEDIA

Play nice with the whole range of media. Make Lotus name associated to this team, this only Lotus team! Make people supporting this move in millions of blog. Get promotions from the grassroot supporters. Facebook are good, but Facebook + Cable TV + Newspaper will always be greater. Big promotions need big money, I agree, but the fact of winning the Team Lotus name would only bring more money to us, and more importantly, we cannot lose our dignity by losing our name.

5. Petitions, Signatures

Now go beyond the media use. Make petitions and bring on those signatures. Come on guys, internet is not enough! We can have thousands of signatures online, but we can go to millions of petitions by doing roadshows! UK, Malaysia, Singapore, India, China, where the culture of roadshows bring a lot of success to the business can help a lot. Don’t close Team Lotus to engineers and drivers. Bring all the fans inside. Make our battle the battle of all.

6. Attack the insects, the cheaters, the robbers

P/S: I recycle your twitter words here.

I was amazed with the publicity in the paper of "If tigers are meant to fly, they should have been born with wings". It was a direct attack to Tiger Airways. We all know that this has largely contributed to the cancellation of their contract by Thai Airways. It was simply amazing! Don’t listen to politicians telling you, shut up and wait. Proton got more politicians than us. They want to ambush us from behind. Attack them by creating the same headlines again. Make them feel that they should not rob the Lotus name from us. Make them feel ashamed of entering the F1 by using our name!

7. Last resort : Discuss with the Lotus Cars ……………………. again

I know, I know, life’s hard. But winning together is perhaps sweeter than losing alone. They want something from us. We want something from them. Your talent on doing negotiation is beyond anybody’s doubt. Do your magic when all the steps fail. Who knows, God helps us this time. Anyway, life is all about giving and accepting right?

This is only a debut for a long-going war. For the sake of the team in the next successful years, please read, and reply me back, at least on how Lotus Racing should handle the crisis.

In Lotus, there are US.

November 12, 2010 - Posted by Mohd Zhafran | Risk Management | 2011, Lotus, Racing, Team, Tony Fernandes