27/07/2013
NEWS STORY
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Lotus team boss Eric Boullier has admitted that the much heralded cash injection from Infinity Racing has not yet materialised.
Speaking in a Hungaroring paddock where speculation over his team's finances is intensifying, Boullier admitted that the Enstone outfit is living beyond its means and working at its financial limit.
“The situation is that we are pushing very hard for the team,” he told Sky Sports. “We are on the limit of this team financially, maybe sometimes even spending more than we have.
“It is true that now we have some new investors in the pipeline and it is a very nice plan for us, but it takes time as it is a very ambitious plan. There might be some delay on it, but it is coming in definitely.”
The news follows Gerard Lopez' - founder of Genii Capital, the investment fund which majority owns the team - recent admission that the deal with Infinity Racing, which was said to have bought a 35% stake in the team had not yet been concluded.
For some time now the team has been the subject of speculation about its perilous financial state with various contractors either threatening to withdraw, or withdrawing, their services. On the heels of reports that the cleaning company hired to maintain the team's Enstone HQ had not been paid, over the course of the Young Driver Test at Silverstone Pitpass heard of the catering contractor at the team's HQ having pulled out after it too found its bills were not being met.
The financial situation is also playing a major part in negotiations regarding Kimi Raikkonen's future with the team, or lack of it.
Asked about the rumours about his pay, or lack of it, Raikkonen shrugged and said: "Some are rumours, some not."
When pressed, and asked if there might be a point at which he too might withdraw his services, he told Sky Sports: "There is a certain point at which a decision will be made and it might turn out to be not so good for any of us. If it goes there, it goes there, we will see.
"The team knows what is the main problem," he continued, "what is the issues and, for sure, this is one of them, the main issue. They know how to fix it, it is pretty simple in the end. But sometimes is doesn't seem to be as everybody wants."
In case further motivation were needed, Raikkonen's manager Steve Robertson (above) has made no attempt to blend into the background this weekend, holding talks with Red Bull boss Christian Horner in the clear view of journalists, photographers and Boullier.
Speaking on Friday however, the Finn said that money is not his motivation as he looks ahead to 2014.
"There is going to be the overall package and whatever feels right for me," he said at the official press conference. "Whatever the decision will be might feel stupid to somebody else, it might just feel right for me. I have no idea what will happen, we have to wait and see what will come, but hopefully whatever it will be it will be the right choice.
"Basically everything has to feel right," he added. "In the end it comes down to whatever I think is the right one. There will be no guarantee the choice will be a good one in the long run but I am fine with whatever the outcome will be. You live with your choices."