'Hurdles' in way of Lotus' Mercedes F1 engine move

Lotus' switch to Mercedes power for 2015 may be hitting a snag.

As recently as Sunday, the end of the struggling Enstone based team's Renault deal seemed a mere formality.

"I can't confirm it yet," Mercedes' Toto Wolff smiled to British television Sky at Silverstone.

It was believed the deal would be confirmed imminently.

"But there are hurdles on the way to a contract," Michael Schmidt, the respected correspondent for Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, reports.

"Lotus is bound to Renault in the medium term. And the French do not want to release their customer from its obligations so easily," he explained, adding that the potential loss of revenue to Renault is at least EUR 20 million.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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