Not looking good for Fernandes and Team Lotus.
Hunt slams Fernandes ahead of Lotus case
Monday 21st March 2011
David Hunt, who sold Tony Fernandes the rights to the Lotus name, will not stand up for Team Lotus when they face Group Lotus in court on Monday.
Fernandes' Team Lotus is engaged in a battle with Group Lotus, the new title sponsor of the Renault F1 team, over the rights to the Lotus name.
The two parties will face off in High Court starting on Monday to see who has the rights to race under the Lotus name this season.
The battle, though, took an interesting turn on Sunday when Hunt, who bought the Team Lotus name from administrators in 1994 when the team went under, launched an attack on Fernandes.
According to Hunt, Fernandes has reneged on a deal the two agreed to back in January over payment for the Team Lotus name.
"When we had to make the Team Lotus staff redundant in 1995 I made a promise to them and the fans to return it to F1 in the hands of a worthy custodian, and initially I had high hopes that Tony, Din and Nasa (his business partners) were going to tick the boxes," Hunt told Telegraph Sport.
"What angers me is that I have, in good faith, worked extremely hard on the build-up to the hearing because I believed Tony would honour our January agreement.
"He's apparently "changed his mind" at the 11th hour, by his own admission, now that I've done so much work on his company's behalf, and he's trying to renegotiate by offering new terms which are, frankly, ludicrous.
"All I'm looking for is for Tony to stick to his word and honour our agreement. If he doesn't, then regrettably I don't see why I should continue to provide assistance and this trial won't be the last battle he's facing, even if he wins."
He added that Team Lotus's case to race with the Lotus name had "potentially some serious holes."
http://www.planetf1.com/news/18227/6826 ... Lotus-case
Hunt was pretty much the main person in this court hearing for Fernandes. I don't know, from what I've been reading and hearing, Fernandes is looking more and more shifty.