How predictable indeed, this started last year when Lotus were still messing about when the teams were trying to sort out their deals. Not to mention the delayed payments for the ECUs, etc. Half-hearted effort achieves half-hearted results.
This is kind of what annoys me about the way Lotus has plastered its name in almost every motosport series going - its not that they are getting involved to win, but simply to exist. In this example, look at Chevrolet - did their homework, spent the money and gave themselves enough time to properly test, develop and organise their entry into Indycar. Result? Victories.
Its not even like Lotus are helping small teams compete as they are just restricting their performance with their poor engines. I'm sure many people are wondering what the likes of Sebastien Bourdais could have achieved with a Chevrolet engine in that Dragon. Clearly its got to the point now for these two teams that the cheaper engine deal has become more trouble than its worth.