Lotus gets a new boss – former Citroen Peugeot President Jean-Marc Gales

Jean-Marc Gales left) new Lotus CEO with Aslam Farikullah Following the debacle of Dany Bahar’s grandiose plans to turn Lotus in to a cross between Aston Martin and Ferrari, owners DRB-HICOM/Proton have been busy trying to get ship Lotus back on an even keel. That started with the appointment of engineer Aslam Farikullah as chief operating officer at Lotus when Bahar got his marching orders, and he’s been busy for the last two years bolting Lotus back together, cutting costs, improving quality and increasing sales. Now, it looks like Lotus are readying themselves for the next stage of their recovery – which will include new models – as former PSA president Jean-Marc Gales is appointed as Lotus CEO to work with Aslam Farikullah.

German Grand Prix Qualifying (2014): Rosberg on pole for Mercedes – Hamilton crashes out

Rosberg takes pole in the 2014 German Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton managed to close the gap to Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg at the British Grand Prix two weeks ago after Rosberg’s car fell foul to mechanical failure, but it was Lewis’s turn to catch the Mercedes mechanical gremlins today as brake failure in qualifying saw him crash out. Hamilton suffered brake failure ten minutes after qualifying began and crashed heavily at speed in to the stadium section, going out of qualifying and causing a red flag for the session. Lewis was checked over after the heavy crash and is fine, but the pole position subsequently gathered in by team mate Rosberg won’t have been any consolation, Just fou7r points behind Rosberg in the driver’s championship battle after the British Grand Prix, Hamilton now faces a big uphill struggle to minimize Rosberg’s advantage in tomorrow’s race, but at least Hamilton’s first flying lap before the crash has sealed him 15th spot for the race.

Italian Grand Prix 2012: McLaren lock out the front row.

McLaren has locked out the front row for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with Lewis Hamilton on pole and Jenson Button second. Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position in Monza this afternoon for McLaren  in qualifying for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix, with a second place for Jenson Button locking out the front row for McLaren. It had looked throughout Q1 and Q2 that it would be Ferrari who were dominant and likely to take pole, but Alonso suffered a rear roll bar problem at the start of Q3 and ended at the bottom in tenth place.