Briatore was Ready to Quit if No Title

The flamboyant Italian's contract with the outfit was due to run out this year but was extended in April - although he claims that he would have quit in December if things had not gone Renault's way.

"I go after results, that's what you have to do," he said in an interview with La Reppublica. "In 2001 I arrived at Renault and I said, 'we'll become World Champions in 2005'. We made it, otherwise in December I would have resigned."

Briatore's success with Fernando Alonso and Renault this year, on the back of triumphs with Michael Schumacher and Benetton in the mid 1990's, has given him the rare accolade of having won world titles with two teams.

And he claims that his victories have been achieved in a very different way to the previously dominant Ferrari team.

"There's a big difference between winning with Ferrari and winning with Benetton and Renault," he said. "The one who made miracles has been me, not them, but it cost me dear.

"Montezemolo and Todt have won with a driver I invented. Oh well, what can I say? I have just one regret: having let Schumacher leave in 1996.

"The thing left between me and him is respect, not friendship. There's no love in our world, and that's the way it should be."