Trulli and Kovalainen to join Lotus F1 team

Updated

The Lotus F1 Team has ended speculation by announcing that Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen will be its two drivers for this famous name's return season in Formula One.

The pair bring plenty of experience to the grid, with Trulli having spent the past five years at Toyota, while Kovalainen has spent the last two seasons partnering former world champion Lewis Hamilton at McLaren.

Both drivers have managed one Grand Prix win each, although Trulli isn't holding out much hope to add to his tally this season.

"We have to set realistic targets for the first year," said Trulli. "We are one of the new teams, so we have to prove ourselves and to gain respect in the paddock."

Lotus aims to establish itself as the best of the new arrivals, then see where it sits relative to the rest of the field.

Kovalainen is also aware of the scale of the task the team faces as new boys, saying: "It will not be easy and we will have tough times at the beginning, there's no question about it."

Given that Lotus has Malaysian backing it is not a huge surprise that the third driver has been named as Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy.

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