Saturday 13 February at 14:31 : Feb.13 (GMM) Lotus has put on hold plans to relocate in the near future to Malaysia.

When the new team's official entry was confirmed last September, the FIA said Lotus' plan was to be based at the Sepang circuit.

Some days later, the Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said the cars would be designed, made and tested at the venue near Kuala Lumpur.

"It will all be made in Malaysia, and made by Malaysians," he said, adding that even the pit crew will be made up of Malaysians despite being led by the British F1 technical expert Mike Gascoyne.

However, Lotus' 2010 car, launched in London on Friday, has been designed at Hingham, Norfolk (UK).

"Right now, stability is important and there are no plans to move to Malaysia yet," team boss Tony Fernandes, also head of the Malaysian airline AirAsia, said.

"In time, obviously, it would be great to be in Malaysia because there's a formula one track, but we have no immediate plans to move," he added.

He said the concept of relocating to Sepang will be reconsidered next year.