Lotus are to return to Formula 1 for the first time since 1994 after being granted the 13th slot on the grid from next season.
They will line up as one of four new teams for 2010 - alongside Campos Grand Prix, Manor and US F1.
Current team BMW Sauber was awarded "14th place" in the championship, meaning it will be entitled to fill any vacancy arising on the 2010 grid.
F1's governing body, the FIA, said it wants to expand the grid to 14 teams.
"The FIA believes that a good case can be made for expanding the grid to 14 teams," read an FIA statement released on Tuesday.
"It will be consulting urgently with the existing teams regarding the introduction of an appropriate rule change to expand the grid to 28 cars in time for the first Grand Prix in 2010."
While the FIA said it had received an "impressive application" from the BMW Sauber team, it added: "However, given that BMW has announced it will withdraw its support in 2010, there are still uncertainties regarding the future ownership of the team."
Lotus, which competed in F1 from 1958 through to 1994, was also awarded its place ahead of Epsilon Euskadi following an intensive selection and due diligence process conducted by the FIA.
The team won seven constructors' crowns and six drivers' champions, including Jim Clark and Graham Hill, during their golden era in the 1960s and '70s.
In its new incarnation the team is a partnership between the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs and is being led by team principal Tony Fernandes, the founder and CEO of the Malaysian-based Tune Group which owns Air Asia airline.
Classic F1 - Spanish Grand Prix 1986
Mike Gascoyne - who has 20 years experience in the sport after working with Jordan, Renault, Toyota, and most recently Force India - returns to F1 as the team's technical director.
The team will be initially based in Norfolk, though its future design, research and development, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose built at Malaysia's Sepang International circuit.
Their withdrawal from F1 in 1994 owed to financial pressures, but Lotus remains the fourth most successful constructor of all time.
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