Renault's F1 plans: the full story

One of the most unconventional alliances - yet arguably the most successful - in the motor industry is the Renault/Nissan partnership, which melds French flair and Japanese efficiency to produce a range of vehicles which enable both brands to resist the onslaught of emerging manufacturers (think Korean and Chinese) and, crucially, the global economic crisis.

Just consider the number of once-ubiquitous brands to have disappeared over the past five years...

What started off 14 years ago as a global rationalising of purchasing/supply activities between two vastly different company cultures has developed into a full-on partnership. The extent of the alliance was discussed here.

With such a spread of activities, and most brands involved in motorsport in some way or other, it is obvious the alliance would eventually turn to rationalising its competition programmes in order to maximise bang for bucks.

With motorsport, particularly F1, powered by three commodities - money, petrol and gossip, and not necessarily in that order - a variety of rumours are rife in the F1 paddock. For example, the 'hijacking' of Red Bull Racing-Renault by Infiniti, whose purple logos adorn the most visible body sections of the triple constructors' (and drivers') championship-winning cars, is said to have ruffled corporate feathers in Paris.

Simon Sproule (left) during a Red Bull launch © XPB

There are also suggestions that Infiniti (or even Nissan/Datsun) could appear on the tappet covers of Red Bull's Renault-built 2014 'Energy' F1 engines (or Nissan on Lotus and Datsun on those destined for Caterham), that Alain Prost is to be appointed non-executive chairman of a global Renault/Nissan sporting entity - much like his immediate world championship predecessor Niki Lauda's position at Mercedes - and that Renault wishes to return to F1 team ownership, having realised that acting solely as engine supplier brings reduced visibility and paddock benefits.

Simon Sproule, Nissan's corporate vice-president with responsibility for global communication, motorsport and social responsibility, and Jean-Michel Jalinier, president, Renault Sport F1, sat down with this column pre-race at Monza with a view to explaining the alliance's global motorsport structure and objectives, and setting the record straight

"We're looking at increasing [our overall activities] globally," opens Sproulle, appropriately dressed in Infiniti Red Bull team gear on the day Sebastian Vettel increased his championship lead.

"So no subject's off the table. Motorsport falls within that remit, so it's natural. What's happened since 2011 is that because of F1 actually we've come a little bit closer.

Why that key date?

"[It's] when [Infiniti] came into the sport, when Renault made introductions for us in the [F1] paddock, when we were looking to do an Infiniti project to raise brand awareness. It was a decision between a Formula 1 team or Premier League soccer; in the end we were convinced by Red Bull, and that enabled us to have more serious discussions about other things we can share.

"What's happened in parallel on the Nissan side is that the Nismo brand has been relaunched. We've sort of torn it apart, put it back together... I think there's now five or six different product programmes in place.

"The smoke signals are probably the effects of ideas being generated, discussions that are happening between the two companies. At the end of the day, as we know, one idea out of 10 will actually happen."

One perennial rumour is that Infiniti will appear on Red Bull's 2014 engine. Any comment?

"Since 2011 someone speculates about that every month, particularly for 2014," smiles Sproule. "It's one of many scenarios we've all discussed very openly, including with the team, between partners.

Jean-Michel Jalinier © LAT

"We haven't reached the point yet where we feel it makes sense for either partner. Could it happen in future? Maybe, but at the moment there's no plan in place to say on a certain date something is going to happen.

"Motorsport is very gossipy, as you know, and you often feel like you're having your business meetings in public, sitting in the middle of the paddock. All I can say is that now the alliance is starting to come together on motorsport, these conversations are happening."

Do such conversations include Alain Prost and, possibly, a return to F1 team ownership?

"Today we have a contract with Alain," explains Jalinier, a Renault lifer. "He's acting with us with two roles: as ambassador of the Renault brand, and it's very good for us because with the [2014] engine you have to explain how it's going to be driven by the drivers on track and of course Alain has got legitimacy to talk about it and work with us to explain that.

"In the second role he is acting as a consultant with me, because of course he has huge knowledge of Formula 1, huge knowledge of the paddock."

Jalinier is adamant there are absolutely no intentions of appointing the four-time champion to the board of Renault Sport F1, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renault reporting directly to Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault/Nissan alliance and its chief architect, whereas all other Renault sporting activities (the performance road car range, plus all non-F1 sporting activities, including World Series by Renault) are effectively divisions reporting to the alliance.

The Renault Sport F1 operation, situated in Viry-Chatillon south of Paris, was recently restructured, possibly giving rise to rumours about Prost and others, and exists as an autonomous entity in order to provide Renault with flexibility and limit liabilities within its premier motorsport activity.

"There has been a very small restructuring that's been done by Carlo Ghosn, but he wants the new structure to disturb the organisation as little as possible, so the word is that we keep the objectives and we focus on the execution."

However, Jalinier is invited to participate in all alliance motorsport discussions, and meets regularly with counterparts within Nismo, Infiniti, Renault Sport Technology and Renault Sport, with Sproule acting as its "super co-ordinator, an alliance appointment", as Jalinier describes it.

"Is there room for synergies," he asks rhetorically. "Yes. Which ones are going to come out in the coming months or weeks, we're still working on, nothing's conclusive. Within the alliance we continuously review all areas of synergies.

Red Bull deal still makes sense for Renault © XPB

"We have regular meetings, we put everything on the table and we are looking on the possible synergy. Yes, we are working on that," adds the Frenchman.

Sproule, a geography graduate based at Nissan's global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, is in total agreement: "With the pressure that we've got to deliver maximum ROE on our investments it just makes sense for us to work together.

"The KERS technologies that are coming into F1 will have applications into LMP1 and other series. We've just had the alignment on the regulations between Super GT in Japan, DTM, ALMS, so suddenly, 'Does DTM make sense for us, does ALMS make sense for us?' because we're committed to Super GT.

"In fact," he continues, "when we were discussing the alignment of Super GT and DTM, [the Mercedes link] was extremely helpful, because we went through Daimler's co-ordination office. They invited our Nismo guys to come to a DTM race to understand.

"So this stuff does help, but I wouldn't like to start rumours about some sort of massive uber-alliance! Jean-Michel and I are very focused on making sure the Renault/Nissan alliance maximises everything, that's our first priority."

Each brand within the alliance decides its motorsport priorities, with marketing budgets funding any activities, explains Sproule, who headed the US communications division of Jaguar/Land Rover/Aston Martin before Ford sold its premium brands. "In the end it's going to be the decision of sales and marketing [departments] whether they go racing or not.

"There're a lot of people, like me, who are misty-eyed about rallying, and Datsun, of course, that's how Datsun proved its reliability. Datsun is just getting started as an emerging market strategy; if the head of Datsun wants to go racing... his choice. He can come to me, to Jean-Michel, to discuss projects, ideas. Maybe, maybe not..."

On a return to ownership, Jalinier is adamant that's not on the cards for Renault: "No, the strategy is clear, we've given up the team to reduce our exposure, financial exposure, to Formula 1, and unfortunately the European market is not in too good shape.

"So we will remain with the same strategy. And it's good and we've got a good return on [supplying engines]."

He does, however, admit that Renault keeps its ear to the ground, although matters are unlikely to progress beyond talks. "We always have discussions with teams," he says, "but there is no discussion, to come back and buy this team or buy that team. No. We're not going to do that."

Rob White, Renault Sport F1's technical director and deputy managing director (and no stranger to these pages), had left Monza immediately after qualifying the previous day and thus was not present at the interview. He had, though, provided thoughts on the topic separately before departure, and these chime with those of Sproule/Jalinier while providing a technical view.

Rob White with Christian Horner © XPB

"In the bigger world outside of F1 there are centres of expertise which are not identical in the two companies and there are some skills that are better developed at Renault than at Nissan and better developed at Nissan than at Renault, and because we're a little bit 'mercenary', we seek to harvest the best knowledge wherever we can find it," he says when asked about synergies.

With Nissan and Renault both having electric vehicle expertise - and F1 relying increasingly on stored energy to supplement internal combustion engines - does it not make sense for Renault Sport F1 to tap this expertise?

"The centre of gravity of those skills is maybe slightly different in the two companies. One of the places we know that Nissan is different is that there's a joint venture company (Automotive Energy Supply Corporation - a JV between Nissan and NEC Energy Devices) which manufactures batteries. We have a good relationship with that group of people; they're one of the credible suppliers of the type of cell technology that we expect to use in the future."

He refuses, though, to be drawn on whether the 2014 Energy engines will be thus complemented, stating: "I don't want to speculate on where specific cells will come from for specific components that we're going to put in racing cars, either now or in the future."

Asked to comment on rumours of imminent rebadging of engines, White is clear: "I've got nothing, honestly, further to say beyond the existing position, which is that our engine is designed and built by Renault Sport F1.

"That's the only thing I can possibly say, because it's the only position we have."

Thus, it is clear that greater co-operation between the alliance's various motorsport operations is on the cards, although individual decisions remain the domain of brand marketing departments. Talk of an umbrella alliance motorsport division is wide of the mark.

Will that change? Possibly, but for the moment Renault Sport F1 is quite happy providing winning engines for Infiniti Red Bull Racing-Renault, and, no, Lauda and Prost are not about to take each other on in boardrooms even if Renault, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz have cross-shareholdings!