The resurgence of the Enstone team (current Lotus-Renault)

Okay, in addition to Pirelli complaints and other discussions let's look at something truly positive. We do not know, how is the in-season development going to pan out, but whatever happens, one thing is clear - the Enstone team is back among the frontrunners of Formula One. Incredible achievement! In its previous disguise under the name of Renault they won two titles in 2005-06, but then very suddenly fell into midfield. The team took some serious beating at one point and changed ownership. But they are more or less back at the sharp end. So how have they done it?

It always looked weird, how a team, who had just won titles, suddenly couldn't get back to the top any more. Renault won the titles in 2005-06, but regardless of how they developed the car during 07-09, they couldn't truly showcase their former mastery any more, except for a slight sign of revival at the end of 2008 in the form of being the third force in F1 behind Ferrari and McLaren for that period.

The only thing to conclude was that Michelin tyres and co-operation with their homeland company played a significant role in success. Yet, their aerodynamics and other stuff must have been top-notch too, which they couldn't replicate later. Arguably also the finances reduced in 2007 after the pullout of Mild Seven/Telefonica and replacement of ING. Perhaps the leadership of Briatore was getting a bit tired and outdated and needed a fresh restart.

A fresh start, which the Singapore scandal very much brought to the team. New ownership (Genii Capital), new team principal (Bouiller), new lead driver (Kubica). Yet the main designers remained largely the same though Bob Bell left at the end of 2010. The 2010 season was promising. Still the car was not truly top-notch (like they had been lacking ever since Michelin left), but it was still promising after the collapse of the previous leadership after which it was feared the Enstone team could become a backmarker.

2011 was a challenging year for Bouiller and the team. The loss of Kubica and a radical non-working car design meant that the cards were stacked against them at the time. Despite the team being fundamentally good and on a good development curve (like we have found out now), Bouiller got lots of criticism.

But in 2012 and even more so in 2013 the results have truly come now with yet again a new lead driver of Räikkönen. It has taken them many years and a change of leadership, but finally the team is showing that they can be frontrunners without Michelin, even though Pirellis most certainly suit the thought process of the design team as well!

What I find interesting is that there are constant rumours like the team is lacking funds and could have cash-flow problems. Even more so than during the ING Renault era, when it was often rumoured Renault was looking to pull out. So what has changed? Perhaps the leadership of Lopez-Bouiller is inspirational enough so that they can still get on with the job and deliver despite some of the disadvantages. Renault's and Carlos Ghosn's constant thoughts of pulling out can't have had that good of an effect on morale in the late 2000's.

Can they keep it up? Chief designer James Allison has left and Räikkönen is rumoured to be in talks with Red Bull. What's next for the resurgent team?