Formula 1 legend Alain Prost leaves Renault e.dams Formula E team

Prost had been a co-owner of the squad and part of the e.dams project since FE's inception, contributing to its clean sweep of teams' title in the series' first three years and its drivers' crown with Sebastien Buemi in 2015/16.

But with Renault's sister brand Nissan taking the team over from the start of FE's Gen2 era in the 2018/19 season, Prost - who is also heavily involved in Renault's F1 project - has decided to step back.

Asked by Autosport whether Prost had sold his shares and was leaving Renault e.dams, team founder Jean-Paul Driot replied: "Yes, I confirm that. I am the owner at 100% of e.dams. So I bought him back, and not Nissan.

"For season five, we will be working with Nissan as we do it today with Renault.

"It's a different situation having a co-ownership than to be on your own, it's completely different. For us, it's easier.

"Alain was doing a lot of communication, the team [has been] with me for a long time. In one way, you can be frustrated, because you're not doing any communication, and he could have been frustrated because he was not leading the team.

"I think that now, things are much clearer. We did a good job all together anyway.

"Now he's leaving for travelling more with Formula 1. Both programmes were a little bit heavy with the travelling."

Renault e.dams currently languishes in sixth spot in the 2017/18 FE teams' standings, with Buemi 59 points off drivers' championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne and team-mate Nicolas Prost having only scored seven points so far.

"We are here to win, so we are really disappointed when we don't have the top-level success", Driot admitted.

"Nicolas Prost has had some difficulties this year, it's difficult to win the championship when you have a driver who is having difficulties [scoring] points."

Buemi and Prost's contracts theoretically run until the end of next season, but Driot admitted that change to Nissan meant there were some question marks.

"We have some ongoing discussions with the driver line-up," he confirmed.

"We have a new partner, so it's important to define their mission in terms of drivers. For sure you want a performing one.

"You know the marketing is also very important - what we want to achieve for our company, for Nissan. We are discussing at the moment and we have not taken a decision yet."

Find out how you can follow the 2018 Paris E-Prix here