LONDON // A court hearing involving the Lotus Formula One team was adjourned again on Friday amid reports that a takeover by French manufacturer Renault is imminent.
The case in London over unpaid taxes had the potential to trigger the appointment of financial administrators to the debt-laden team, but a takeover would likely avoid that necessity.
Friday’s adjournment – until September 28 – was the second delay in the hearing as negotiations over a takeover continue in the background.
Neither Lotus nor Renault have publicly confirmed the talks, but Renault chairman and chief executive Carlos Ghosn said this week that it was considering returning to team ownership from next season.
Renault withdrew from team ownership after 2008 and served as a successful engine supplier, including to Red Bull when it won four successive championships.
However, Ghosn said it no longer wanted that role, and would either return as a team in its own right or pull out of F1, perhaps as soon as the end of the current season.
Franz Tost, team principal of the Toro Rosso team which uses Renault engines, said he was unsure if the French manufacturer would fulfil the supply deal to the end of 2016 as contracted, and was keenly awaiting the resolution of the Lotus situation.
“Confidential talks are continuing, so I don’t know at the moment if we will have a change,” Tost said after Friday’s practice sessions at the Singapore Grand Prix. “I have not got it in a written form from Renault so far.”
The prospect of a near-term Renault takeover of Lotus hinges on the outcome of separate talks between Renault and Formula One’s commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone over a proposed bonus payment to Renault for its historical contribution to the sport.
If that bonus payment does arrive – with a significant initial lump sum rather than being paid over several years – it would allow Renault to make an immediate buyout that could satisfy Lotus’ creditors and prevent financial administration.
RED BULL RACING CONFIRM SPLIT FROM RENAULT
On the track at Singapore, former world champions Red Bull Racing will have a new Formula One engine partner next season after confirming on Friday that their fractious relationship with Renault was over.
“The separation from our engine partner at the end of the season is by mutual agreement,” Red Bull’s billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz told Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper.
“There was no sense in working together any more. You couldn’t put the teams through that any longer.”
Red Bull are now expected to switch to Ferrari after dominant Mercedes rebuffed their approaches. McLaren’s partners Honda, the sport’s only other engine manufacturer, are least competitive of all.
Mateschitz said Ferrari would be a “very acceptable” solution for the next two or three years.
The deal is not done, however, despite the Italian team’s willingess to supply Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko warned that the alternative would be to walk away.
“If we don’t have a competitive engine, we will leave Formula One,” he told Sky Sports television at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Mateschitz was commenting after Renault head Carlos Ghosn made clear this week that the French carmaker would either buy a team or leave the sport, rather than be an engine supplier to others.
Having recorded just two podium finishes this season, both in Hungary, the team has had little to celebrate this year.
But things took a turn for the better on Friday with Daniil Kvyat setting the fastest practice time and team mate Daniel Ricciardo posting the third quickest at the floodlit Marina Bay street circuit.
It was the first time this season Red Bull had topped the time sheets in any session, a far cry from 2010-13 when they won four championships in a row and dominated the sport.
“If today’s any tell-tale sign, I think we’re looking pretty good,” Ricciardo said. “I hoped the car would work better around here and that looks like the case.”
Kvyat’s performance in the second 90-minute session was all the more impressive after he missed most of the first because of engine problems.
The 21-year-old Russian, who finished second in Hungary in July, kept his cool on a steamy night to record a fastest lap time of 1:46.142 on super-soft tyres.
“Hopefully we can carry this into tomorrow, obviously everyone will be working very hard tonight but we’ll try our best to stay in the same position tomorrow,” he said.
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