On this basis, in August 2009 Force India immediately severed the contract agreement it had with Aerolab due to what they describe as “a breach of confidentiality”.

That resulted in Aerolab starting civil proceedings in Italy and in the United Kingdom against Force India for the illegitimate early termination of the service agreement, for which €1m has been paid into an escrow account as a security.

Force India, however, believe their intellectual property was used in the design of last season’s debut-making Lotus Racing challenger, the T127.

The High Court will now sit on January 16 to hear Force India’s claim made against 1 Malaysia Racing Team, Team Lotus chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne and Aerolab.

As an added complication, separate criminal proceedings are also currently ongoing in Italy in respect of the wrongful disclosure of confidential information following a complaint made by Force India with the competent authorities.

Force India believe that due to the evidence retrieved by the Italian authorities during their investigations, that they have a case.

It is yet another High Court outing for Team Lotus as they go up against Lotus Renault later this month that will finally settle their naming rights row.