Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul hasn’t sparked confidence in the company’s F1 future after suggesting “let’s be optimistic”.
The French manufacturer has had a rough 2019 with their progress of recent years stalling and recently saw both cars disqualified from the Japanese Grand Prix over an automated brake bias system they had been using for at least four years.
After the stewards gave their verdict on that matter, it was rumoured the relatively light punishment was the result of a threat to pull out of F1 if a tougher sanction was given.
However, Renault might still do after the interim CEO Clotilde Delbos announced a review of the company’s activities following a reduction in revenue in the last quarter and the issuing of a profit warning.
“I can’t tell you that, until that process is done, I can’t say,” Abiteboul said on his hunch of how that review would play out.
“It has to be a process. I’m sorry I don’t have any confirmation to make further than what I have done already. Let’s follow the process.”
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But, the Frenchman believes F1 will remain of interest to Renault particularly given the changes coming for 2021.
“Let’s be optimistic. If everything is better than what we have now I don’t see why we would get to a different decision to the one we made in 2015,” he said, referring to the rise of the works team from the ashes of Lotus.
“Yes, the market has changed and the sporting results are what they are, but the most important thing is can we project ourselves with confidence in that period of time with reasonable results, at a reasonable cost.
“In my opinion, what we will get out of 2021 measures, we’re going in the right direction to answer these questions positively.”
Abiteboul also noted that Delbos was the chief financial officer of Renault when the decision was made to reform the works team, therefore suggesting she is supportive of the project.
But this is a very different situation now, despite his claim, as the goal of seeing the brand once again win races and championships appears still a long way off.
The Renault chief himself has also previously claimed proposals like the budget cap don’t go far enough, and Renault also has no customer teams to serve from 2021 meaning a decision to pull out would have no impact on F1 at all.