Enstone: A Winning Pedigree

New colours, a new name, but the people who have made this team a success remain. Here's a reminder of the team's achievements over the past thirty years…

At the end of the 2010 season, a new exciting era was announced for Enstone with the creation of Lotus Renault GP. The signing of a partnership with Group Lotus until 2017 brings Enstone the financial stability that any top Formula 1 team needs and provides a solid platform to go forward and achieve our objectives in the years ahead.

Of course, Enstone is no stranger to change. In fact, this year marks the 30th anniversary of this company competing in Formula 1 under various names. Back in 1981 it was Toleman, based just down the road from Enstone in a place called Witney, before becoming Benetton in 1986. Most recently Enstone has been the UK base for the Renault F1 Team between 2002 and 2010.

A winning team

Throughout those various guises, the Enstone team has established itself as a winning team. When Benetton took over in 1986, the team had become a race winner by the year's end. And less than a decade later, the team had won three world titles with Michael Schumacher taking back-to-back drivers' title in 1994 and 1995, while the team took the constructors' title in 1995.

Then, under the Renault banner, the success continued, as the Renault F1 Team and Fernando Alonso emerged as a dominant force. The Spaniard took seven race victories en route to the 2005 drivers' title, while the team won the constructors' world championship.

That feat was repeated in 2006 as Alonso and the team won consecutive double world titles to confirm Enstone's position among the pre-eminent teams of modern Formula 1. In fact, the only other teams to have won multiple world championships in the same period are McLaren, Ferrari and Williams – it's pretty distinguished company.

A new era

Although 2011 marks the end of the 'Renault F1 Team' era, the strong relationship with Renault continues through the supply of their championship-winning engine. Equally, the team's 2011 challenger remains a Renault chassis and is known as the R31 with significant Renault branding.

While the name above the door may have changed down the years, the people who have helped make this company a winning team remain. And everybody here at Enstone knows that the strength of any team rests in the people that make it up – we are all links in the chain.

The other thing that remains unchanged is the hunger for success and determination to see Enstone back on top of the world. Whatever this team has been called, that has remained a constant.

Genii Capital

Lotus Renault GP is now 100% owned by Genii Capital, a Luxembourg-based investment firm who acquired a majority shareholding in the team last year. Together with the backing of Group Lotus, the team now embodies Enstone's proud motorsport heritage and Genii Capital's vibrant vision for the sports' future, driven forward by a singular goal: victory in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.