French carmaker Renault bought back its former works team Lotus for a single British pound. That is the finding of F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, who wrote in the Telegraph that company documents show only 1 pound actually changed hands as Renault bought a 90 per cent stake in the Enstone based team.
In the fallout of the so-called 'crash-gate' scandal at the end of last decade, Renault had sold its formerly championship-winning works team to the private equity firm Genii.
Sylt, writing with Caroline Reid, added that Genii recorded a $274 million loss between buying the team and selling it back to Renault just before Christmas. Genii has, however, now retained a 10 per cent stake, with the firm's Eric Lux also revealing that the team is "in discussion with several parties for a long-term title sponsorship".
Alfa Romeo Orlen presented in Warsaw the livery of its new car for this season with the code name C41. The colors of...
AlphaTauri became the second team of Formula1 which revealed the livery of this year’s car. AT02 is the second...
McLaren revealed the livery of its new car MCL35M for season 2021 and became the first Formula1 team which presented ...
Local time
Local time
Circuit de Catalunya - Winter testing
Circuit de Catalunya - Winter testing
Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It wasnt unexpected, it is quite common for companies to be sold for just 1 pound when they are taken over, it is more of a symbolic sum. MFI was taken over in a similar way a few years ago. To think that they handled it so badly that they actually lost that much cash is a bit odd though. Will be interesting to see if they'll manage to claim a title sponsor before the start of the 2016 season.
khasmir
Posts: 893
That will be 1 pound + all debts and unpaid bills ;)
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Very much so.