Team Lotus extends Formula One engine deal with Renault, will use KERS in 2012

Team Lotus of Formula One confirmed it will extend its engine deal with Renault through the end of 2013. The team, headed by entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, announced at the Singapore Grand Prix that it will employ a Red Bull-developed KERS system starting in 2012. Fernandes said the Team Lotus-Renault-Red Bull deal will put the team on a more even playing field:

We have done the very best job we can this year but without that extra power we are always competing on a different level to the teams ahead, so to give our drivers that boost is a key element of helping us catch the cars ahead, and compete with them when we do so.

Renault Sport F1 head Jean-François Caubet said KERS – a system that transforms kinetic energy into useable power, providing Formula One racers with a six-second, 80-horsepower boost – is essential to competitive performance in F1.