The future of the Lotus F1 Team is in increasing doubt as Renault's takeover plans are yet to be confirmed.
Renault signed a letter of intent to buy the Enstone-based team and return to F1 as a full manufacturer in 2016. While Renault employees have been working at Lotus since the Singapore Grand Prix, confirmation of the deal has yet to be forthcoming and when asked about Renault's plans for next year, Renault Sport F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul replied: "Well I’m afraid I can’t answer to that question.
"I would like to be in a position to be able to answer to that questions, but I am not today. What I can say is that there will be no announcement regarding Renault’s future – short-term or middle-term future – over the weekend, but there will be an announcement, very likely, in the course of next week.
"We have always said that we would like to do that after the season. The season is ending on Sunday, around the start of December and that is what we will do stick to that plan, which is to make an announcement then."
While Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says a contract has been signed for the team's power unit supply for 2016 - understood to be with Renault - it is believed the Lotus takeover is in doubt after progress stalled between Renault and Bernie Ecclestone.
With Renault Sport F1 president Jerome Stoll present in Abu Dhabi to try and find a resolution, Abiteboul admits the ongoing situation has "been a proper rollercoaster" but insists it has been Renault's intention to complete a deal.
"It’s fair to say that there is a process going on since the signing of the letter of interest on the 28th of September, there is a process involving a lot of people. I think 50 people have been working night and day on the realisation of a possible acquisition of a majority stake in Lotus. It’s just a project, it’s been a proper rollercoaster, very exciting.
"I have to say there has been a little bit of frustration on the track. We would have liked to do a better job for Red Bull and Toro Rosso engine-wise, but we always knew it was a long-term game to fix the issues we had. We have not managed to deliver a product that was in accordance to what we would have liked to do with those new regulations, so hopefully we will have the strategy, the time and the resouces to do that in the next few years."
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