Of the four new teams that are scheduled to make their inaugural Formula One race in Bahrain, only one of them can say that they’ve been there and done that. And after recent spy shots were taken at Silverstone, we can now definitely say that Lotus has returned to Formula One.

It’s hard to imagine that it’s been 15 years since Lotus was part of the F1 grid, but after seeing that unmistakable green and yellow coated F1 car that has long been synonymous with Lotus running some tests in Silverstone, there’s no denying now that one of the most successful F1 outfits in history has come back to, dare we say, restore its lost glory.

Lotus’ first test-run at Silverstone was emotional on a lot of levels for those involved in the team’s return to Formula One. Even Tony Fernandes, Lotus’ team principal, admitted that he got emotional after watching the car make its first test run around Silverstone. In this official Twitter feed, Fernandes said, "Shakedown started. Quite a few tears."

If a simple test-run in the middle of February could bring such emotion to a lot of people, you can imagine that it’s going to be a lot more emotional when Lotus lines up at the grid in Bahrain.

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