Many had expected Renault to announce its deal to takeover the Lotus F1 Team in Abu Dhabi this weekend, but the French manufacturer says no announcement about its F1 future will be made until next week.
The company is currently negotiating what commercial rights income it is entitled to as a manufacturer team, with Renault pushing for a larger some than was originally offered.
On Friday in the Abu Dhabi paddock, Bernie Ecclestone and CVC’s Donald Mackenzie met with Renault’s vice president of sales and marketing Jerome Stoll to continue talks.
It’s not clear what the outcome of the meeting was, but Renault has warned that it might not push ahead with its works team plan if a satisfactory deal with FOM can’t be struck.
Speaking on Friday Renault Sport boss Cyril Abiteboul confirmed that an announcement would come next week, once the season has drawn to a close.
“What I can say is that there will be no announcement regarding Renault’s future short term or middle term this weekend,” said the Frenchman.
“But there will be an announcement very likely in the course of next week.
“We have always said that we would like to do it after the season, which ends on Sunday, and at the start of December, so that is what we will do. We will make an announcement then.”
The decision leaves Lotus waiting to hear about its own future as it continues to battle financial problems, which most recently led to the team being locked out of the Abu Dhabi paddock until Ecclestone agreed to settle their outstanding bill.
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