Bernie Ecclestone pushing for Lotus/Renault buyout
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/...renault-buyout
Bernie Ecclestone is pushing for a buyout of the Lotus team by Renault and last month paid the cash-strapped outfit £1.5 million to cover the wages of 400 staff.
Lotus continues to struggle financially and ended the Belgian Grand Prix with bailiffs arriving outside its garage to stop cars and equipment leaving following legal action from former reserve driver Charles Pic. The team, which has confirmed it will be racing at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, has said it would welcome a works Renault deal "with open arms" as talks with the French manufacturer continue.
The Times reports F1 chief Ecclestone personally intervened to ensure the cash-strapped outfit made the first two races after the summer break.
"I thought I should cover the wages of the people there to make sure they were all right and so that Lotus would at least get to Spa and, hopefully, to Italy," Ecclestone said. "But they really need to make progress with Renault now to make sure everything is OK."
Renault's return as a works outfit would come after the breakdown in its relationship with Red Bull, which has reached breaking point after a season and a half of uncompetitive V6 turbo engines. That has left Red Bull's future in F1 uncertain, with the team ready to quit F1 if it cannot find a competitive engine from 2016 onwards.
It is unclear what a Lotus deal would mean for Red Bull and Toro Rosso, who both have Red Bull engine deals until the end of 2016. Autosport reports one option on the table is for Renault to focus entirely on its own programme for 2016 but assist Red Bull in finding a new supplier, where its road car affiliations with Mercedes would come into play.
Though Mercedes is reluctant to equip Red Bull with such a competitive power unit, Ecclestone is thought to be keen for such a partnership after seeing the Brackley outfit dominate F1 since the introduction of V6 turbos in 2014.