F1 Teams Virgin, Renault and Team Lotus all to Change Names

Virgin Racing are on the brink of name change after applying to change their name along with Renault and Team Lotus before Thursday’s F1 Commission meeting in Geneva

The Yorkshire-based team want to be known in the future as Marussia.The Russian sports car manufacturer joined as a sponsor last year, but for this season took on a much larger role, as well as title sponsorship.

It now has a controlling stake in the team, which flies a Russian flag. This has left previous majority owner Richard Branson’s future in the sport in doubt.

Virgin will continue to sponsor the team as part of their deal, but will no longer be considered Vigin Racing. While under the Virgin umbrella the team has failed to spend sufficient amounts of money that has allowed it to compete with the copious demands of the sport

As part of the new deal, believed to be for four years, Virgin will not have any equity but will continue to pay sponsorship, while Branson will have certain obligations; for instance, he will be required to attend a set number of races per season and assist with finding and closing sponsorship deals.

Virgin branding will remain prominent on the car as its involvement becomes more equivalent to that of a regular sponsor.

Provided everything is signed off by the F1 Commission on Thursday – and there have been murmurings from some teams that names should not be hawked and traded – Team Lotus will next year be known as Caterham, while Renault will be known as Lotus.

Among the other items on the agenda are the 2012 Bahrain and Korean grands prix, both of which are uncertain.