The disastrous 1990 season for the Lotus team began with a major leadership change within the organization. After long-time team manager Peter Warr, implicated with Fred Busher in the DeLorean scandal, was dismissed in mid-1989 and replaced by Tony Rudd, Rupert Mainwaring was promoted to team manager at the start of 1990. However, the sponsorship negotiations that Warr had been conducting with Coca-Cola and Castrol were abruptly terminated. The agreement with Camel was extended for another year, ensuring their continued presence as the main sponsor on the British cars, but the financial contribution from the tobacco company was drastically reduced, leaving the Chapman family’s team with very limited funds to face the new season.
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| LOTUS 102, Martin Donnelly Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 1990 |
Using the 101 as a starting point, technical director Frank Dernie and designer Mike Coughlan completed the design of the new Lotus 102, which was equipped with the Lamborghini 3512 V12 engine delivering 649 HP, making the 102 the first and only Lotus single-seater in the team’s history to use a V12 engine. The increased power of the Lamborghini V12 led Dernie to believe it could compensate for the many shortcomings of the Italian power unit, particularly its size, weight, and fuel consumption. The bulk of the engine required it to be installed low in the chassis, which in turn had to be designed to the maximum width allowed by regulations in order to accommodate larger fuel tanks.
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| 2 LOTUS 102, Derek Warwick Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 1990 |
Furthermore, due to the engine’s weight, every component of the car was revised to find even the smallest possible weight savings. The Italian V12, which had shown promising performance in the 1989 Larrousse-Lola cars but was still notably underdeveloped compared to rival engines, was ultimately the reason why three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet decided to leave the team. He believed the poor performance of the new engine would seriously hinder the new car’s chances of victory.
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| LOTUS 102, Johnny Herbert Suzuka, Japanese GP 1990 |
In place of the Brazilian champion, veteran British driver Derek Warwick was hired, while young Northern Irishman Martin Donnelly was promoted from test driver to race driver, at least until the Spanish Grand Prix, where a terrible accident ended his very brief career. On the Jerez circuit, the young British driver lost control of his 102 in a fast corner, and when his Lotus struck the barriers, instead of absorbing the impact, the car split in two, hurling the seat, with Donnelly still strapped in by his seatbelts, several dozen meters away from the car. The severe injuries and numerous fractures he sustained required months of recovery and ultimately ended his racing career. From the next race onward, he was replaced by British driver Johnny Herbert. The failure of the 102's chassis was traced back to the team’s relentless effort to minimize the weight of every component on the car. Warwick himself, in a 2014 interview, confessed that he feared some part of the 102 would fail every time he got into the car. He also criticized the Lamborghini V12, describing it as “all noise and no power.”
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| LOTUS 102, Derek Warwick Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian GP 1990 |
The 1990 season ended for Team Lotus with just 3 points, earned through a fifth and a sixth place finish, both by Warwick, and a disappointing eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship. In December of the same year, a group led by Peter Collins and Peter Wright took over the Lotus team from the Chapman family. However, the prolonged negotiations, concluded only two months before the start of the 1991 championship, left the British team without adequate financial support to face the new season.
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