money. Genii Capital took full control of the team -- which has raced in F1 since 1981 under its previous guises Toleman, Benetton and Renault -- from previous owner Renault in 2011. Ownership by a private investment company, instead of car manufacturers such as Mercedes and Fiat, which owns Ferrari, or a global company such as Red Bull, can provide a more risky financial backdrop for an F1 team. But Boullier says that Lotusalternative business model does not mean it is mired in a financial crisis, as the rumors circulating in the sport would suggest. Red Bull or Mercedes, those companies are sponsoring the teams, said Boullier, whose driver management company Gravity also has connections to Genii. Genii has a different strategy: they loan the money. It is part of the strategy that partners join the team and Genii will get back their investment. Seventy-five percent of the debt Lotus has comes from Genii. They could write it off tomorrow by saying this money is a sponsorship -- and then our debt would be drastically reduced. Our normal debt is similar to most of the other teams. Genii's strategy of choosing to bankroll the team before looking for sponsorship deals to recoup their investment is a gamble. Having 2007 world champion Raikkonen on board would have inevitably helped attract sponsors, but now Boullier is looking at alternatives. He says the team plans to emulate