Newspaper Article

Obituary: Peter Warr: Manager of the Lotus Formula One team during its golden years

Henry, Alan

2010

Overview

[Peter Warr] retired from racing in 1964, and had intended to follow Lotus with its move to Hethel, Norfolk, in 1966. But he changed his mind and decided to quit, in part because the job he really wanted - Lotus F1 manager - had gone to his colleague Andrew Ferguson. In 1969, however, Ferguson tipped Warr off that he was leaving the company. [Colin Chapman] judged Warr to be the right man for the post, so he was signed up just before the 1969 US grand prix at Watkins Glen, New York, the race where Hill crashed heavily and broke his legs in one of the works Lotus 49s while the other sped to a maiden Formula One victory for the German driver Jochen Rindt. Warr managed the team through the golden years of the Lotus 72 and was in charge at the time of Rindt's death at Monza in 1970. He then presided over the team's rebirth in 1972, when Emerson Fittipaldi became the youngest world champion to date. This domination continued into 1973, when Ronnie Peterson joined Fittipaldi in the Lotus squad, but over the next two years the team's fortunes began to wane. Then, in the spring of 1975, Warr broke both legs in a road accident. After [Nigel Mansell] crashed while leading the 1984 Monaco grand prix in his Lotus-Renault, an exasperated Warr commented that the British driver would never win a grand prix \"as long as he has a hole in his backside\". This turned out to be wide of the mark, as Mansell went on to win 31 grands prix with [Williams] and Ferrari. Warr later learned to laugh at his prediction.

• Publisher: Guardian News & Media Limited
• Subject: Chapman, Colin / Mansell, Nigel / Senna, Ayrton / Warr, Peter / Wolf, Walter