Owner hints all change for 2012 Lotus lineup

Team owner Gerard Lopez has confirmed reports Lotus could change its driver lineup completely ahead of the 2012 season.

Already signed up for next year is Kimi Raikkonen, amid reports 2011 drivers Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov are the main contenders to be the famous Finn’s teammate.

"It’s not just a question of Vitaly or Bruno," clarified majority team owner Genii Capital’s Lopez.

Other reports say reserve driver and new GP2 champion Romain Grosjean - whose career is handled by Genii’s management arm Gravity - as well as likely Force India refugee Adrian Sutil, are also in the running.

"We will make a decision fairly quickly," Lopez told RTL Luxembourg radio.

He seemed to indicate that Brazilian Senna, who was drafted in mid-season to replace injured Robert Kubica’s initial substitute Nick Heidfeld, is not the favourite.

"From the second half of the season we had two young drivers in Vitaly and Bruno," he said.

"They are really good drivers, but the huge problem at the moment is the little testing in formula one. We do not have time to build up young drivers."