The confirmation was made public by the very president of the Renault group, CEO Carlos Ghosn, who told reporters at a PR event that they need to be a little more patient regarding his company's strategy in the Great Circle.
“You will have to be patient. We will announce our strategy in terms of Renault's role in formula one before the year's end. It's not very far away, it's in a few weeks,” said Ghosn yesterday, further fueling the rumors that the French manufacturer might become the 3rd such loss of Formula One for the 2010 season.
Ghosn's statement comes only a few hours after Renault's F1 managing director Jean-Francois Caubet told the media that the 2010 season has already begun for the Enstone based team. The board of directors for the French company met during the course of Wednesday to discuss the plans for F1, following Toyota's departure from the sport.
“We will not be world champions in 2010, but we do have hopes to be much improved. We have already contracted our drivers, had our budget approved and are enrolled in the world championship. Season 2010 has begun already,” said Caubert.
In a time when most Formula One fans and officials are mourning the losses of BMW and Toyota (Honda also, last year), former candidate for the FIA presidency Ari Vatanen told CNN that he can only agree with the car manufacturers to leave the series.
“(They) would stay in the FIA championship if the sport was known for positive news and if it was a good avenue for marketing and promotion – but formula one is only known for conflict, crisis and court cases recently, and big companies cannot afford that,” said Vatanen.
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