It wouldn't have surprised me to see Renault leave. This year has been an absolute disaster. Their team leadership has been banned for life, their driver gave them a black eye that's a size not even Tyson could have dealt them, their car was a rolling piece of crap on the track and they were soundly whipped by a team that leased engine from Renault.

It's all spelled out there and et for some reason they did't raise the white flag and quit.

It looks like they may still be out:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80031
and
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=47383

englishracer - 05 November 2009 11:25 AM

It looks like they may still be out:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80031
and
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=47383

They should have made that stand-by list longer than 1 team! And apparently signing up to the Concorde Agreement doesn't mean too much (so why didn't BMW do it?)

Formula Cosworth here we come!

Not that anyone is looking to, but is it even possible for a new manufacturer to decide to supply engines? (with the engine freeze and all) or are we stuck with dwindling variety of engines until we have a de facto spec engine for the series?

Methinks they may be waiting to see if possible legal action against Toyota proves to have teeth...

This uncertanty is bad for everyone in the team, especially the drivers.

Lets say for instance that Renault wait untill the end of December & opt to leave, That doesn't leave Kubica & Glock much time to find another ride, Nor does it give the team personnel much time to sort out a rescue deal or the staff much time to find jobs elsewhere.

Renault should just make a decision, Stay or Go, Waiting just does more damage to the workers within the team.



I woudn't be at all surprised to see them go as don't forget Carlos Ghosn wanted to pull the team out of F1 when he 1st took over the chief executive role in was it 2005. It was only The 2 Championships the team got for team & drivers in 2005/06 that convinced him to keep the team going. It was also the uncertanty Ghosn brought that saw Alonso make the decision to move to Mclaren for 2007 at the end of 2005.

stefmeister - 05 November 2009 02:01 PM

I woudn't be at all surprised to see them go as don't forget Carlos Ghosn wanted to pull the team out of F1 when he 1st took over the chief executive role in was it 2005.

It's rather ironic that Renault managed to find, in Carlos Ghosn, the only Brazilian who isn't an F1 fan.

I thought Trulli was going to Lotus:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80026

Has he signed with Renault for 2010? What a debacle for the drivers who could still be left scrambling for a seat.

marshall banana - 05 November 2009 12:12 PM

Methinks they may be waiting to see if possible legal action against Toyota proves to have teeth...

Probably. And/or looking for a buyer.

Live with the manufacturers, die with them.

While the 'Team Principals' deal with the FOTA, they are just employees to the Board of Directors that run the manufacturers, create policy and have to answer to the stockholders. Stockholders, as a class, view automotive competition as frivolous and taking value away from their stock holdings....when the value of those holdings are decreasing in concert with the worlds economy, they want the BoD to exercise every available means to increase the stock value of the company. Eliminating expenditures for F1 is a no brainer when dealing with the stockholders.

mmi16 - 05 November 2009 02:54 PM

Live with the manufacturers, die with them.

While the 'Team Principals' deal with the FOTA, they are just employees to the Board of Directors that run the manufacturers, create policy and have to answer to the stockholders. Stockholders, as a class, view automotive competition as frivolous and taking value away from their stock holdings....when the value of those holdings are decreasing in concert with the worlds economy, they want the BoD to exercise every available means to increase the stock value of the company. Eliminating expenditures for F1 is a no brainer when dealing with the stockholders.

Yes, I suppose F1 should be more like SuperLeague Formula?

I thought it strange that Renault would pull out as only days ago I'd read that the F1 team signed TW Steel as first new sponsor since Singapore scandal.

But it does appear that the manufacturer business boards and the like-named Formula One teams often seem to be on different pages.

People like Mario Thiessen and John Howett often seem to be the last to know about what is happening to/with their F1 teams ..

That is.. until after it happens; making the situation appear as if they are lying to the media when they make positive forward thinking statements such as (Toyota F1) we're trying to sign Raikkonen and Kubica -- or BMW wants to expand to F1 engine supplier etc.;

-- whereas it is possible that these F1 team principals are just as shell-shocked and left unawares when they are told on Tuesday morning that their department (F1) has been down-scaled, off-shored or eliminated.

Too bad about the way these car companies conduct this business.. with little thought to the effect on the race fan cheering them on -- sudden pull-out possibly leaving bitter EX-fans of the car-brand in their wake.