The Lotus 72 is a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Lotus for the 1970 Formula One season. The 72 was a pioneering design featuring inboard brakes, side-mounted radiators in sidepods (as opposed to the nose-mounted radiators, which had been commonplace since before World War II), and aerodynamic wings producing down-force.

The overall shape of the 72 was innovative, resembling a wedge on wheels which was inspired by the earlier Lotus 56 gas turbine car. The shape made for better air penetration and higher speeds. In a back-to-back test with the Lotus 49, the 72 was faster with the same Cosworth engine.

The 72 used a Ford Cosworth DFV, 2993cc V8, naturally aspirated, mid-engine, longitudinally-mounted engine. It was mated to a Hewland FG400, 5-speed manual transmission. This gave a power of 440-465 hp.

It was entered for the 1970 Dutch GP, and Rindt soon made the car successful, by winning the Dutch, French, British and German Grands Prix in quick succession. Rindt was almost certainly going to win the world championship but was killed in a qualifying crash at Monza, driving the 72 with its wings removed, when a front brake shaft failed sending the car at high speed into a poorly installed safety barrier. His replacement, Emerson Fittipaldi, won the United States race, helping Rindt become F1's only posthumous world champion. Rindt's and Fittipaldi's combined points for the season helped Lotus to its fourth constructors' championship.

After 20 wins, two drivers' and three constructors' championships, the 72 was retired for the 1976 season and replaced by the Lotus 77. This longevity makes it one of the most successful ever Formula 1 cars.

The Lotus 79 is a Formula One car designed in late 1977 by Colin Chapman, Geoff Aldridge, Martin Ogilvie, Tony Rudd, Tony Southgate and Peter Wright of Lotus. The Lotus 79 was the first F1 car to take full advantage of ground effect aerodynamics.

Over the span of its lifetime, the Lotus 79 took 7 wins, 10 pole positions, 121 points and won the last drivers' and constructors' world championships for Lotus. The 79 is credited with pushing Formula One into the modern aerodynamics era.

After Rubens Barrichello drove the 79 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2000, he spoke of its "phenomenal grip and traction", and stated that "it felt like a modern Grand Prix car".

The Lotus 79's ground effect aerodynamics were pioneered in its immediate predecessor, the Lotus 78. The undercar pressure problems in the 78 were resolved with the 79, with further design work on the venturi tunnels under the car.

The car was powered by the Ford Cosworth DFV and constructed of sheet aluminium honeycomb, specially strengthened for the pressures exerted on the car by the ground effect.

The 79 was to be replaced by the Lotus 80, intended to be the next step in the evolution of ground effects. Unlike the two previous models, although, the 80 proved to be a total failure and Lotus was forced to go back to the 79, driven by Andretti and Carlos Reutemann.

Several podium places were scored and the 79 was in contention for victory in the early stage of the season, but the next generation of ground effects cars led first by the Ligier JS11, then the Ferrari 312T4 and then the Williams FW07 — a car heavily based on the 79 outclassed the Lotus.

Although the car was updated with revised bodywork and a new rear wing, Lotus slipped to fourth in the constructors' championship and the car was retired at the end of the 1979 season, without winning any further races, signalling the end of the team's glorious era.

The Lotus 102 was a Formula One racing car designed by Lotus for use in the 1990 Formula One season and would eventually go on to compete in three seasons until 1992.

Frank Dernie and Mike Coughlan incorporated the 640 bhp (477 kW; 649 PS) Lamborghini V12 engine that had been used by the Larrousse Lola team during 1989. Its use made the 102 the only Lotus to race with a V12 engine. The engine had several drawbacks, principally its size, weight and fuel economy. However, it was believed that the increases in power would offset these drawbacks. The engine's size meant it had to be located lower in the chassis, which also had to be designed to its widest permitted dimensions in order to incorporate larger fuel tanks. Furthermore, due to the engine's mass every component on the car had to be scrutinised to investigate whether any further weight reductions could be made elsewhere.

While the Lamborghini, one of only two V12 engines in Formula One at the time (the other being Ferrari), had shown promise with the Larrousse team in its debut season 1989, it still lagged behind the V12 Ferrari, the V10 engines from Honda and Renault, and even the Cosworth built and developed Ford V8 engine in both power (it only produced around 620 bhp compared to the closer to 700 bhp for Honda, Renault and Ferrari) and more importantly reliability.

In 1991 the Lamborghini engine was replaced by the Judd EV V8, the successor of the Judd CV V8 that had been used in the 101 in 1989.

The final incarnation of the 102, was the makeshift 102D that represented Team Lotus for the start of the 1992 season. Outwardly similar to the 102B, the car had a Cosworth HB V8 in place of the Judd EV V8. In an attempt to gain exposure a 102D driven by Johnny Herbert broke the Brands Hatch Indy circuit record for the BBC Record Breakers programme.

The Lotus T128, known prior to its launch by its project number TL11, is a Formula One motor racing car designed by Mike Gascoyne, Lewis Butler and Marianne Hinson for Team Lotus in the 2011 Formula One season. 2011 saw the car abandon its Cosworth engine in favour of one developed by Renault.

The T128 was launched online in2011. Team Lotus retained an unchanged driver lineup in 2011, with 2010 drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli racing the T128. It was confirmed that the team would start the season without the Kinetic Energy Recovery System, but senior figures suggested they would adopt it if the car proved successful, however the team continued for the rest of the 2011 season without KERS.

The team changed from the Cosworth CA2010 engine used in 2010 to the Renault RS27 series, as well as exchanging a transmission developed by X-Trac to one built by Red Bull Technologies. The design of the T128 also incorporated a "bladed" rollbar similar to the one developed by Mercedes in 2010, but thicker and with sturdier air intakes to conform with FIA regulations.

The T128 used a Renault RS27-2011 2400 cc 90° V8 engine which was limited to 18.000 RPM, naturally aspirated and mid-mounted. It was mated to a Red Bull Technologies seven-speed semi-automatic gearbox with reverse gear.

In qualifying for the first race, the Australian Grand Prix, Team Lotus were eliminated in Q1, causing surprise within the team, who had expected to be much closer to the midfield, although they were ahead of both Virgins and HRTs. In the race, Kovalainen retired on lap 19 due to a water leak, while Trulli finished 13th, ahead of d'Ambrosio.

Throughout the season, the T128 was faster than the Virgin cars and HRTs.

The Lotus E21 is a Formula One racing car designed and built by the Lotus F1 team for use in the 2013 championship. 

The chassis was designed by James Allison, Nick Chester, Martin Tolliday and Dirk de Beer with Renault supplying the team's engines. The car was driven by 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean, both of whom remained with the team after competing in 2012. The E21 was the first of the 2013 season cars to be launched.

Following criticism of the cars raced in 2012 for being "ugly" because of a visible step in the design of the nose, the 2013 technical regulations allowed teams to use a "modesty panel", or a small piece of carbon fibre designed to cover the nose of the car for aesthetic purposes. However, the E21 was launched without a modesty panel, as the team felt that it offered no aerodynamic benefit, and that the aesthetic qualities it offered were not worth the added weight, however slight the weight gain might be.

The E21 proved to be a competitive car across the 2013 season with one victory at the season opener at Australia, and the car would claim 14 podiums by the end of the season. Eventually, the team finished 4th in the Constructors' Championship with 315 points.

Lotus F1 went into the 2013 season with subtle livery changes. While the overall design was similar, the only difference was an additional red accents.

In Monaco, the team collaborated with Daft Punk to promote their latest album, Random Access Memories. The Daft Punk logo appeared on the rear wing, while the chassis sported their helmet designs as they appear on the album cover on each side of the car. In Korea, the Renault logos were badged as Renault Samsung.