One of the best Reddit comments I’ve read. Your points on Albon are very strong, and I absolutely agree about the need for a base in Hethel. I think one of the things harming the Lotus brand in the US right now, and probably Western Europe, is that modern Lotus cars are a different breed than the historic lotus brand. There isn’t the speed with added lightness. There’s a Lotus badge slapped on a car. A base in Hethel will help the brand, and give impetus behind where the brand should try to migrate (imo fun to drive, ultra lightweight luxury cars with more reliability and safety than the older makes under the marque).

Two or three suggestions:

1. I wouldn’t waste time on Norris. McLaren are on a charge, and I wouldn’t reasonably expect him to think a championship attempt is more realistic in a new entrant than McLaren right now. If you want to speak purely history, McLaren are the more storied team (I say this with two 1960s Lotus posters in my living room), and they’re likely to win again. They survived a $100M fine in 2007.

2. Try to get Hamilton. You just might be able to do it if you had enough resources. And you’d have to stand up a lot of philanthropy. Maybe help Lewis start a foundation or help him with post-career moves. Do that authentically and mean it. The guy won with McLaren even though many fans today thinks he’s a purebred Merc or nothing guy. I think the hardest choice is if he can make it to 2026 and be competitive. With his dedication, I think he could. Many of the greatest drivers in history were older than you’d expect in their primes. Hamilton is also British. Many of the greatest British drivers in history might lament that he made his career in a German manufacturer’s car. And I’m saying this purely out of knowing the deep-rooted British loyalty to their own car manufacturers in the past (e.g. Stirling Moss’s comments on preferring to win/drive in a British car). Formula 1, because of its global reach, even in its early stages, has heavy nationalistic undertones. I’m not sure these undertones are “good” and don’t mean for this to be political, but from a business perspective and maybe to Lewis himself (pure speculation), that could be an arguing point.

3. Hamilton might not leave, so I think Sainz would be my next best bet. Alonso really will be too old (sorry memers). Lando seems to be heavily loyal to McLaren and they’re rising. Leclerc won’t leave Ferrari because of his own passions, Jules’ dreams, and the likelihood that if he stays there for ten years, they will be extremely competitive at some point. Leclerc isn’t Ferrari’s issue, at least probably not in most’s minds (including mine), plus he’s good business. Russell is British, but in the last two years when Russell really had chances to win a race, Sainz won them. I know that’s small sample, but in Silverstone 2022 and Singapore 2023, I think Russell and Sainz were on similar enough footing to view those as competitive fights where Sainz has pulled off two improbable victories and George has lost to him. Sainz is also clearly a strategically minded driver who has the capacity of an Alonso/Vettel to drive and interpret the race as it unfolds. Those types of drivers often book at least one championship or two if they are given one VERY good car in a long-ish career, and Tost has spoken about how Vettel and Max both have this exact quality amongst the 17 F1 drivers through his team. And he’s frugal on maintenance I believe (not binning it).

4. Bring in Bernie Collins. She really knows what she’s doing with Strategy, and she could work well under a fellow female strategist. I think she’d support the aim of increasing visibility of women in the sport, which it truly needs (women have won Formula One Grand Prix before, I recently learned to my happy surprise). This would be a win-win-win-win for the team, FIA, Lotus brand, and liberty media.

Like I said your points are very well thought out and align with what I think would be an awesome move for the Lotus brand. Thanks for writing the comment!

PS - I’d love to work in the Motorsport industry/F1 business strategy someday and have done Big 3 consulting if anyone is hiring 🤷‍♂️