Dec.17 (GMM) The sale of a "large stake" of Renault's formula one team will halve the French carmaker's annual spend on the sport.
The team's managing director Jean-Francois Caubet is quoted by French language reports as saying: "Between the net cost for Renault in 2009 and 2010, it (the cost) has been halved."After BMW and Toyota elected to pull out of formula one entirely, he said the Genii Capital deal means Renault is able to stay on the grid for now.Caubet said the French carmaker recently informed the team that a full budget for 2010 was not going to be provided due to "the economic difficulties"."So we started to work on alternatives to preserve the presence of the brand (in F1)," he explained.Renault did not confirm the size of the stake that has been retained, but Italian reporters told Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo that the French marque now owns only 25 per cent of the Enstone based squad."Better that than nothing," he is quoted as responding by Tuttosport.
