Lotus Will Be Renamed Renault For ’16 F1 Season If Takeover Deal Is Completed

Lotus to be renamed Renault

Lotus F1 CEO Matthew Carter indicated that the team will be renamed Renault as early as '16 if the French manufacturer completes its "takeover of the Enstone-based team," according to SKY SPORTS.

Renault remains "in the process of buying back the team" it sold to Gerard Lopez's Genii Capital in '09 and reviving a "works" outfit. Carter insists "confidence is very high" that a takeover deal will be finalized in the coming weeks, with Lotus having been given until Dec. 7 to complete the transaction after the High Court "agreed to an adjournment in its case over unpaid taxes."

Should the deal "go through then there has been speculation" over whether Renault, which is set to buy a controlling stake, will immediately rebrand the team under its own name or wait until '17. When it previously bought the Enstone outfit from then-owners Benetton in '00 the car firm waited another two seasons before changing the team name while it "waited for the outfit's competitiveness to improve." Sky Sports