In the Land of the Lotus Eaters

Not such good news coming out of Lotus these days.  Specifically the signing of Pastor Maldonado as their second driver.  The point being that Lotus is in a precarious financial situation and Maldonado brings with him considerable funding.  Which Lotus needs.  You may remember that the Iceman, Kimi Raikkonen eventually walked away from the last two races because they owed him a ton of money.

Limped, more likely.  Since he had a bad back.
Okay, limped.  But the point holds.

In a perfect world, a planned investment in Lotus would have come through, the ship would have been righted, and they could have signed fast-but-unfunded Nico Hulkenberg (one more über-talented young German driver) instead of the slower-but-well-funded Maldonado.

Shit happens, I suppose.  But I root for Lotus and had hoped for a better outcome.

On an unrelated note, the front wing of a Formula 1 car is clearly one of the most complicated aerodynamic devices in the world.  I mean, look at it.  I'm wracking my brain trying to think of something comparable.