Renault: At Long Last Back in Formula One

It has been a while but Renault is finally back in Formula one where they belong and F1 fans should be happy about it.

Many in the formula one world has been wondering what is the final word on what happened in the takeover by the Lotus F1 team by the Renault Group of France. This was a decision to possibly push the French team into the 2016 world championship as a manufacturer.

Well, at long last, the decision is final.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Group Renault had finally, under the last moment of the approval of President Carlos Ghosn, will be entering the formula one world championship for next year as a works manufacturer team, taking over the cash strapped Lotus F1 Team, who in fact, bought them out in 2011.

The factory for the team remains as it did during the company wonder years of 2002 to 2009 in Enstone, England, with the engine group working in Viry-Chatillon, just south of Paris, France.

With a big takeover like this, current reports are coming in that under this new deal, which will make Renault the third full works team after Mercedes and Ferrari, has spent huge amounts of cash to make their team get what they really need for the next nine seasons of this contract. Ten percent, at least for the 2016 season, will still be owned by the Gravity Sports Group, led by Luxembourg based Gerard Lopez and his Genii Capital Group, while Renault has bought out the rest of the team for an unexpected and surprising one pound (one and a half dollars). This surprising figure proves that the Lotus team was very desperate in trying to keep their team together despite the final hand still has to be played with the French.

It still is pretty certain that many top figures from Lotus will be let go, but drivers Pastor Maldonado and his rookie teammate Jolyon Palmer will remain for one season, until their contracts expire at the end of 2016. Both pilots have sponsorship, which will help in the first season for Renault, but unless both drivers can progress well in the 2016 season, it will be more than likely that they could be let go for more experienced drivers.

As for the management front, the man tipped to be the new boss could be Frenchman Cedric Vasseur, famed for his work at the ART Grand Prix GP2 team, which has produced such greats as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Four time world champion Alain Prost could be used in an ambassador role, as Niki Lauda, another past world champion, is doing currently for Mercedes. It is also being rumored that there will be a test driver for the team that could be French, which might be Pierre Gasly, who has a Red Bull contract.

Speaking of the Austrian manufacturer, the team, now that Renault is becoming a works squad, Red Bull Racing will still be using Renault engines in the company final season of their contract, but will be unbranded with the Tag-Heuer name, which the Swiss watch company has been with McLaren for nearly 20 years. The engines will also get the assistance of Illmor engineering of England, which is led by Mario Illien. Renault refused the help of them this past season, but this led into a big problem and no victories by Red Bull. Now, the company has full cooperation with Renault, to improve the engine and try to get both teams up further up the grid.

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As for sponsors between Red Bull and Renault, Infiniti, which has sponsored Red Bull for many seasons, will leave, since it is tied to the Renault/Nissan alliance. Fuel giant Total, should switch to Renault, as they both have had a long relationship with one another.

Jerome Stoll has been appointed as Interim Chairman and Cyril Abiteboul, who ran Renault Sport F1 as an engine company, will serve as Managing Director. The launch and final decision of what will happen with team partners and full management structure will be announced in Paris, France, sometime in February.