1982 saw John Player Special return as main sponsor, along with some competitiveness.

De Angelis and Mansell stayed on.
The first race of the season saw two 87B�s being used.

The Type 91 made its debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the second race of the season.
De Angelis retired but Mansell stormed through to 3rd place.
He followed this up with a 7th in the Long Beach Grand Prix, while De Angelis scored his first points of the season with 5th.

A dispute between FISA and FOCA resulted in many FOCA teams (Lotus included) withdrawing from the San Marino Grand Prix.
Lotus returned in Belgium and De Angelis finished a strong 4th.
Both Lotus� scored points in Monaco, with Mansell 4th and De Angelis 5th.
Detroit saw a double retirement, but the following round in Canada gave De Angelis another 4th place.
Mansell missed the Dutch Grand Prix following a start-line accident in Canada.
Roberto Moreno took his place, but he failed to qualify. Nigel made every effort to race at Brands Hatch and made the start, but retired.
He was rested for the next race in France, replaced by Geoff Lees who finished 12th.
De Angelis earned his third 4th place of the season at the British Grand Prix.
Mansell returned for the last 5 races of the season and claimed three top 10 finishes.

For De Angelis, his best race of the season was yet to come. Running well in Austria, Elio took the lead on lap 48 when Prost retired. He then held off a charge by Keke Rosberg to claim Lotus� first win since 1978.
He then scored 6th in the following Swiss Grand Prix.

Lotus finished 6th in the Constructors Championship, but there was much optimism following the return to winning ways.
De Angelis was 9th and Mansell 14th in the Drivers Championship.

On 15th December 1982 tragedy struck. Colin Chapman died from a heart attack at his home.
At only 54 years old, one of the greatest engineers of his time was dead.

Team Lotus had lost its father figure, and was left in disarray.

Lotus carried on in 1983.
Renault engines had been secured, but would initially only be available for De Angelis.
Mansell continued with a further developed 91, the Type 92 for the first 8 races of the 1983, scoring 1 point in the Detroit Grand Prix.