Saturday 21 February 2015

Renault open to anything when it comes to their future involvement in Formula One

(© Ben Johnston 2015)

Renault Sport F1 Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul says that the French manufacturer are open minded when it comes to their future involvement in the Formula One.

Renault endured a difficult transition period when Formula One switched from the 2.4 litre V8 engines to the 1.6 litre turbo charged power trains ahead of last season. In recent years the company has been through somewhat of a restructuring programme within its Formula One operation.

They sold their Formula One Team to Gerard Lopez’s GENII Capital group in 2009 and were renamed Lotus Renault GP ahead of the 2011 Formula One season. It 2012 the team became what it is now known as the Lotus F1 Team.

Prior to selling the team Renault had won back to back Drivers and Constructors championships in 2005 and 2006 with Fernando Alonso.

In 2007, Renault became an engine supplier to Red Bull Racing and in 2011 the company increased its involvement with the Milton Keynes based outfit becoming a premium partner. The partnership has been an extremely successful one as they won four consecutive Drivers and Constructors championships from 2010 – 2013.

Despite stating that they are extremely happy with their partnership with Infiniti Red Bull Racing and are happy to continue the relationship indefinitely, Abiteboul has not ruled out the company one day returning to a works outfit like Mercedes and Ferrari as he says that Renault are in Formula One to market themselves and if it makes commercial sense to change something than they will do that.

© Ben Johnston 2015

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