Lotus F1 team Owner Gerard Lopez has revealed the team has £114M ($186M) of debt, but "insists their future is not in doubt," according to Andrew Benson of the BBC. Lopez, co-owner of the Genii Capital investment company that runs Lotus, said that "most of the debt is internal." He added driver Kimi Raikkonen, who quit two races before the end of last season because of non-payment, had "got part of his salary and will get the rest." Lopez told Germany's Auto Motor Und Sport magazine, "We have around £114 million of debt, of which more than £80 million debt is with ourselves (Genii). Why would we demand the repayment of these (internal) debts? That makes no sense. We reconciled the money as marketing expenses. At the moment, it is important that the team goes forward." Lotus has "yet to announce an engine deal with their supplier Renault," but Lopez insisted that they "would continue with the French company and that negotiations had been delayed because of the complications of the working relationship between the two entities" (BBC, 1/15).
