Allure of F1 undimmed in Asia

The allure of Formula One remains undimmed for Middle Eastern and Asian investors as the sport shifted further away from its European origins on Tuesday with the rebirth of the Lotus name as a Malaysian-owned team.

Leading Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes will be team principal after Lotus was awarded the 13th slot on the 2010 starting grid by the governing International Automobile Federation. A new design, manufacturing and technical centre will be built at Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit.

"The cars will be made in Malaysia, by Malaysians," the government said in a statement.

The BMW Sauber team, which was left fighting for its survival after German manufacturer BMW announced in July that it was pulling out at the end of the season, hopes to be racing again after being rescued by Middle Eastern money. BMW said Qadbak Investments, a Swiss-based foundation representing unnamed Middle Eastern interests, had signed a contract to buy the team.

Although Lotus has taken the slot that was BMW Sauber's, the latter team was given a reserve 14th place, with the FIA also looking into a regulation change to allow the grid to stretch to 14 teams and 28 cars.

The Middle East already has two races for the first time this year, with the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix joining Bahrain on the calendar, while France has disappeared from the calendar.

Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment fund owns a five percent stake in Ferrari while Bahrain's state holding company Mumtalakat has 30 percent of McLaren. A further 15 percent of McLaren is in the hands of Saudi businessman Mansour Ojjeh.

The Gulf's financial involvement could grow even further if media reports in Germany are correct about Mercedes seeking a 75 percent stake in championship leaders Brawn. German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport reported last week that Aabar, a major investor in Mercedes' parent company Daimler, would hold the stake until the carmaker's exclusive contract with McLaren expires in 2011.

Malaysia and Singapore are now established fixtures while South Korea is aiming for a slot in 2010 before India makes its debut in 2011.

Indian aviation and liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya has already put the country more firmly on the motorsport map with his Force India team taking pole position in Belgium last month and grabbing two top-four positions in two races. Force India was formally Jordan, Midland and Spyker and remains based at Britain's Silverstone circuit.

Britain and its 'Motorsport Valley' has long been the home of choice to a majority of teams but the numbers are levelling out. Newcomers due to debut next season promise to take the sport out of its familiar surroundings.

USF1 has decided to base itself in Charlotte, North Carolina which means that the championship that started in Europe 59 years ago with teams from just Italy and France could soon see cars being produced on three continents.