Renault recently sold the remaining part of their Enstone-based organization to Genii Capital, who in turn sold a big part of the team to Group Lotus. However, the name of Renault will not disappear from the F1 spectrum, as the newly formed team is now called Lotus Renault F1 Team. Apart from the Enstone squad, Renault Sport F1 (engine entity belonging to Renault) will supply V8 units for Team Lotus and Red Bull Racing.
According to Prost (it's actually a no brainer for most of the diehard fans of Formula One) being a manufacturer in the series is very hard if you don't deliver some good results in the process. And since the Enstone team has last won a title in 2006, Renault's move makes a lot of sense if we are to take into account the current economic climate (in which every penny spent should come with a positive result).
“As the owner of a team it's always a bit complicated because you have to manage many things at once,” said Prost in a recent interview with autohebdo.fr, hinting that Renault will face less economic pressure with the new strategy they chose for the future.
“With just the engine (supply), you can always offload your responsibilities to the chassis, especially since the latter is the most important for the performance in F1. There is always a little war between the car side and the engine side. But if you're doing the chassis and the engine, it's always more difficult when you lose.”
Additionally, now that they won't run an F1 team of their own, Renault can fully focus on developing the new turbo engine set to debut in the Great Circus in 2013, which will help them in their road car business also.
“For a manufacturer like Renault, it (the new formula) is a big plus. In terms of technology, F1 is going to be closer to what is happening in road cars, including the reduction in engine size - which is called downsizing - with turbocharging. It's an aspect that is very positive for Renault,” added Prost.
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