The new Malaysian-owned Lotus F1 team is in talks about being sponsored next year by Petronas, the state owned oil company.
Petronas has been a long term sponsor of the BMW-Sauber team, who are being taken over by the mysterious investment group Qadbak but are not guaranteed a place on the 2010 grid.
Lotus boss Tony Fernandes, who is also in charge of the Williams sponsor AirAsia, confirmed the Petronas talks.
"We would love Petronas to sponsor us," he said at the verge of the Singapore grand prix.
It is also rumoured that 2002 Minardi driver and Malaysian Alex Yoong, now 33, has joined the team, but will have a management role rather than a driving one.
