[954Stealth]

more trip saving (same site):

The group of investors that is buying in to the Lotus Formula 1 team insists there are no regrets that its deal came too late to retain Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen held out over the summer for the Quantum investment to be finalised, but matters were delayed because of banking restrictions delaying money transfers and the Finn eventually decided on a switch to Ferrari for 2014.

Mansoor Ijaz, the man behind Quantum Motorsports, does not hide from the fact that he would have liked Raikkonen to stay, but he thinks it cannot rue what might have been.

"I have enormous respect for Kimi as a driver," said Ijaz. "I actually love his mercurial personality.

"But it is not a matter of having regret.

"We live in a world where many things happen beyond our control and this was one of [those] situations. It wasn't possible for us.

"We did everything we could. We moved this way, they blocked; we moved that way, they blocked; we moved that way, and finally we got it through.

"But by that time people had other things that they needed to do.

"Everyone has their own time cycle over which they make decisions. We can't change that.

"The answer is that I never will say I regret that he left because we have a beautiful and bright horizon with Nico Hulkenberg in front of us.


"But, at the same time I can't in any shape or form take away what he meant to this team and what he means to the sport of F1.

"He drives with passion and a zest that I have seen in very few other drivers in my lifetime.

"He takes risks that not many drivers take. Would we have loved to have had him for another year or two? Yes.

"But we wish him well at Ferrari and we look forward to standing next to him, one step higher, on the podium next year in every race we possibly can."

[Rookie84]

Hulkenberg + Raikkonen would possibly have been one of the best driver lineups next season. Too bad Quantum deal was delayed for Lotus. But then if they kept Kimi, I don't know if the would have let Grojean go and signed Hulkenberg.

[MediaArtist]

Ugh. Lotus F1. So many bad feelings associated with them.

I don't want to get into personal details (for fear of being sued) but my company was working on an enterprise software project with one of the chief investors who bought about 35% of the Lotus F1 team back in June. We stopped working with them in September after only 4 months of work.

We used to get updates about Lotus F1 racing through the company group list, and how things were going with the team and its racers. We assumed after the first payment was late, things were still fine after stories about "bank tranfer delays". Big mistake. Our contracted payments for our work went 1 month behind, then 2, up to 3 months. At one point we simply stopped all work on all related task for the project. The amount of money due to us wasn't trivial either, it was in the millions.

Finally after threats of court, lawyers sending letters, we finally got what we were owed and a little bit extra but it never took the bad taste out of my mouth having to deal with a certain rich asshole hedge fund manager.

Like I said, I won't say any names as to avoid any lawsuits, but anyone who keeps up with Lotus F1 knows who I am talking about. The guy has stiffed so many people in his other business ventures, I'm shocked people still give the guy any money for anything. The guy let his own home get foreclosed, yet he's got hundreds of millions of other people's money under his control. How's that for irony?

Anyway, rant over.

[SenorFunkyPants]

I wonder what the "banking restrictions " were....normally means that the money transfer involved a country on the sanctions list (such as Iran) or broke some anti money laundering rules or had connections to a restricted entity.

[solstice]

Originally Posted by Rookie84

Hulkenberg + Raikkonen would possibly have been one of the best driver lineups next season. Too bad Quantum deal was delayed for Lotus. But then if they kept Kimi, I don't know if the would have let Grojean go and signed Hulkenberg.

GRO is a young and very promising driver. I don't think they would or should have let him go for HULK if they had Kimi. I do think GRO better keep out of Kimi's way the next two races though, he wasn't exactly supportive of Kimi during the drama, kind of took cheap shots and made fun of Kimi's personality to get some laughs. If I noticed it I'm sure Kimi did.

[MediaArtist]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

I wonder what the "banking restrictions " were....normally means that the money transfer involved a country on the sanctions list (such as Iran) or broke some anti money laundering rules or had connections to a restricted entity.

or the guy who is transferring the money is politically affiliated with questionable people.

I'm being a bit harsh, the individual I'm talking about, yeah... it's probably more difficult for him to move money around in large quantities because of who he is, and who he is friends with (major players in Pakistan).

But suffice to say, I'm not surprised that Kimi wasn't getting paid. This guy I'm talking about is just wreckless with money when it comes to paying people who work with him. You will get lots of empty promises, and unfulfilled deadlines. I heard he was getting kicked out of Monaco for stiffing investors over there as well.

Anyway I've said too much, but just seeing any mention of Lotus F1 brings my blood pressure up, especially when it deals with someone not getting paid.

[954Stealth]

MI v BSI?

[SenorFunkyPants]

Originally Posted by MediaArtist

or the guy who is transferring the money is politically affiliated with questionable people.

My Daughter works in the sanctions dept for a major bank and she was intrigued and somewhat surprised that a major investor in F1 would have their funds restricted by sanctions policy.
Just what have Lotus got themselves into?
Will Gérard Lopez wake up one day with a horses head in his bed!

[MediaArtist]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

My Daughter works in the sanctions dept for a major bank and she was intrigued and somewhat surprised that a major investor in F1 would have their funds restricted by sanctions policy.
Just what have Lotus got themselves into?
Will Gérard Lopez wake up one day with a horses head in his bed!

Well full disclosure, that was the reason given to us for the delays. Also if you knew who this guy was affiliated with, and the type of people he runs in circles with, it was a plausible explanation that I had no reason to doubt at the time. I'm just glad we got our money, but not surprised one of their top racers wasn't getting his.