Renault formally complete Lotus takeover

Dec 21, 2015 4:15pm UTC

Renault's return to Formula One racing as a works entrant has been formally confirmed after the French manufacturer successfully completed their takeover of the Lotus F1 team.

After months of negotiations, an announcement was made earlier in December that Renault were preparing for their comeback, although contractual and legal obligations still had to be fulfilled at that point.

That process has now been completed, allowing Renault to begin moving the project forward - with decisions of the new name, team structure and other details to be revealed in February.

"On Friday 18 December 2015, Groupe Renault and Gravity Motorsport S.a.rl, an affiliate of Genii Capital SA, formally and successfully completed the acquisition by Groupe Renault of a controlling shareholding of Lotus F1 Team Limited," Renault said in a statement.

"The new team name, full management structure, team partners and other details will be announced during an event to be held in Paris in February.

"In the interim, a new board of directors has been appointed, with Jerome Stoll as Chairman and Cyril Abiteboul as Managing Director.

"Following the signing of a letter of intent by Groupe Renault and Gravity Motorsport S.a.rl on 28 September 2015, the parties entered into the various agreements on 3 December 2015. Since then, all parties involved have been working relentlessly to comply with all of the contractual and legal obligations under the agreements to enable the transaction to successfully complete. The technical teams are making good progress to have the 2016 car ready for testing in Barcelona at the end of February."