Renault considering its Formula 1 future amid major review

As the French car manufacturer bids to turn around a fall in revenue and move on from the disruption caused by the arrest of former Renault-Nissan alliance boss Carlos Ghosn last year, it will examine all aspects of its business.

During a conference call with investors on Friday, interim CEO Clotilde Delbos made clear that although she was not specifically targeting Renault's F1 programme, the firm's grand prix activities would fall under the spotlight of a review that was about to begin.

Key to its long term ambitions will be to analyse the 'Drive the Future' strategy that had been implemented by Ghosn back in 2017, and that could now be changed if Renault feels it no longer suits its needs.

Asked whether Renault would consider stopping non-essential activities such as F1 and its Alpine brand, Delbos said: "I am not specifically targeting those two activities that you mentioned but clearly the review of the 'Drive the Future' plans means that we put on the table [everything].

• Renault splits with McLaren
• The consequences of going solo for snubbed Renault
  

"It is like a normal process. It is just not a minor review. We are really launching a deep review of our 'Drive the Future' plan in order to take into account the new context of the market, the change in usage, mobility etc. and the current situation of the group.

"Everything can be on the table at some point. This is a deep review of our strategy and of our plan."

Ghosn was a driving force in committing Renault to returning to F1 as a works team in 2016, and giving it a long-term plan to return to the front of grand prix racing.

But despite the team making progress to finish fourth in the constructors' championship last year, this season has been more of a struggle.

As well as suffering reliability problems earlier in the campaign that hindered its points scoring potential, Renault more recently was disqualified from the Japanese Grand Prix for running an illegal driver aid.

The team is also having to face up to the fact that despite the introduction of a budget cap from 2021, it will likely have to increase its own financial commitment if it is to take on the might of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

Renault announced that group revenue fell 1.6% to €11.3billion in the third quarter on the back of a changing dynamic in the road car markets - especially a shift away from diesel engines. Sales by volume were down 4.4%.