Full Throttle

Lotus, which will re-enter Formula One next season after a 15 year absence, plans to finalize its driver line-up by the end of this month, with technical chief Mike Gascoyne admitting that it wants two experienced men on board next year.

“We’ll take the best drivers that are available,” Gascoyne told reporters after meeting possible crew recruits in Kuala Lumpur. “I think although we are a new team, several quite experienced drivers are quite interested in us.”

At the head of the rumor list is now unemployed Jarno Trulli after Toyota exited the sport.

For a fresh out of the box team Lotus could do far worse than Trulli who is dependable if not spectacular, at times taking his Toyota to three pole positions and 13 podiums in a decidedly uncompetitive machine.

Christian Klien seems to be also in the mix. The Austrian has had stints with Jaguar and Red Bull Racing and was signed as test driver for both Honda F1 and BMW Sauber.

His down side, his last F1 race was the 2006 Italian Grand Prix for Red Bull when he was over shadowed by the more experienced David Coulthard.

So what could possibly go wrong? A couple things:

First on the list is the image above of the Lotus wind tunnel model. Mike Gascoyne, formerly with Force India and now with Lotus, may be embroiled in yet another spy controversy.

Force India claims the model closely resembles the team’s current VJM-02.

What happens with the charge remains to be seen but any time the FIA gets involved, assuming they do, all bets are off.

Secondly is this report from AutoSport:

When asked about Trulli being top of his list, Gascoyne said: “He is one of the guys we would like to have. Jarno has, over one lap, always been sensational. That is even more important in a new team because you need to know where you are on a Saturday. Jarno can always give you that.”

Gascoyne, who also held talks with Jacques Villeneuve and Christian Klien in Abu Dhabi last weekend, says a decision will be made soon.

Jacques Villeneuve back in F1.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that?

Know what I mean?