The Lotus brand in F1 will always remain iconic given the kind of success it achieved in the 1970s and ’80s. It has housed legends like Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark, and Emerson Fittipaldi. The return of the Lotus team name in the early 2010s was a completely distinct entry from the old team. But there is an uncanny resemblance to how things ended for both outfits.
Before it wrapped up its operations in 2015, Lotus was also home to Ayao Komatsu, who recently spoke about the financial distress the team found itself in during his time there. Komatsu was the chief race engineer at Lotus in 2015, which is when things were arguably at its worst.
In the Pelas Pistas podcast, he revealed how at the 2015 Belgian GP, they arrived at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit to find everything belonging to them locked up. They hadn’t paid the top management yet. “We started the weekend not knowing if we would be able to drive the car,” Komatsu said.
Off-track difficulties continued and somehow became worse, as the season progressed. In Japan that year, it got so bad that Komatsu had to leave his team back at the hotel, because no facility was accessible to them at the Suzuka circuit. “We hadn’t paid any bills at the circuit,” he continued.
“We couldn’t go to our catering, we had no lights, no internet… Because there’s no internet, there’s no point in bringing the race, performance or control team.”
The Lotus engineers were struggling to even fire up their car and work on it with no power and internet. As for the food, Komatsu highlighted that then-F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone “felt sorry for them” and let the engineers and mechanics eat at his facility at the Suzuka circuit.
From fighting from podiums and wins in 2012-13 to struggling to even have basic amenities at a racetrack in 2015, Lotus had a roller coaster of a time in F1. Nevertheless, they were potent enough to punch above their weight when the opportunity came.
Komatsu’s special memory from that season
Although the Japanese engineer recalled it as a difficult time for the team, the race in Spa in 2015 holds a special place in his heart. They started the weekend completely unsure of whether they could race at all, and ended it with a podium. It was Romain Grosjean who achieved that feat.
“I remember thinking back then, that drive from Romain was the best I had ever seen,” Komatsu revealed. “Going from not knowing if we would be able to race, to actually give ourselves a podium.”
What a day, what a race… Being back on the podium felt sooooo good!!! @GHMUMM was cold as I like it ! #BelgianGP pic.twitter.com/Cw3EOsXzyd
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) August 23, 2015
The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished 1-2 that afternoon in Spa, but the widest smile on the podium was Grosjean’s. For a brief moment, the Frenchman and everyone associated with Lotus, who were doomed to fail eventually, forgot about their problems.
The very next year, both Grosjean and Komatsu would join the newly formed Haas team together.
