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During the pre-race show (here in Aus) for the Valencia GP, one of the commentators mentioned that Williams were on the verge of signing Renault engines for 2012, which has been discussed on F1T before..
What struck me was that he claimed there were rumours of Renault buying into Williams (as part of the engine deal).. has anyone heard anything further of this claim??
Last edited by Fil on 30 Jun 2011, 02:13, edited 1 time in total.
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What is becoming more apparent as well is that Paris are disliking what Bahar is dragging Lotus Renault into and will be taking engine supply away from the Einstone team, who will have to take Cosworth engines.
I think that Williams will become Williams-Renault in 2012, with Renault bringing in either Sutil, Buemi or Glock as the lead driver.
I think that Frank and Patrick are on the verge of selling up and quitting F1 in the next few years.
Doesn't matter what engine they have, without the driver behind the wheel they will be wondering what they actually spent the money on....
Generally I don't care about what people say. I have to be clear with myself. When everything goes well, people celebrate you, when you make mistakes people criticize you.
Sebastian Vettel
Forget the engine supply bit.
My question was about rumours of Renault buying a stake of Williams F1.
That's quite a significant move, selling its own team of a decade, over to own part of Williams!
Anyone heard any more to that?
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It would be a smart & good move by Williams, to get the Renault engines. The last couple of years they've had a decent car with quite the potential, but with those Cosworth engines, they're not gonna get close to constant point-finishes. Not to mention the couple Barrichello/Maldonado. Barrichello is average, but Maldonado is just plain horrible.
But I don't think Frank will sell the team to Renault.
"I race to win, and if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you're no longer a racing driver." - Ayrton Senna
I don't think the rumour is about ownership, just a stake in the company.
Just over 27% of Williams was publicly floated, with Frank still holding about 58%, Head about 5% and Wolff about 10%, so there's plenty of private shares to sell a portion of to Renault, if indeed this rumour has some credence to it.
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Renault should become an engine supplier, leaving the team in Lotus hands. By doing these they could be behind interestings teams like Redbull, Williams, "Fernandes GP" and Lotus Gp. I dont like the half Renault half Lotus team, i want it to be fully Renault or fully Lotus but not an extrange financial mix thats makes the ordinary fan to withdraw.
So, i dont think they are going to purchase "commodities" in Williams, my hope is that they only go for an engine deal.
ElleMarie, Renault is already only an engine manufacturer these days.
Renault F1 Team is completely owned by Genii. Lotus is only a sponsor, (like Vodafone is to McLaren). It's definitely not half Renault, half Lotus.
Judging by the absolute silence here about this, I guess the rumour is baseless at this stage.
It just surprised me to hear it broadcast as it was. It's rare to hear F1 rumours on TV before on here!
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Autosport.com wrote:Discussions have taken place with Williams about a renewal of their old partnership, and AUTOSPORT understands that the French car manufacturer is weighing up the formation of a works-type tie-up with one of its team in the near future – with Williams or Team Lotus the most likely candidates.
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Renault have to name change for the start of next year if they dont take up on certain options of the Renault buy up contract, by the end of the 2 full years, they must be able to start the third with a new name, by that point the Historical Renault results and the Historical Payments to the einstone based team will stop, however the Renault Historical Payments will go then to Renault Sport F1 or any team they do a works based deal with.
Interesting. Sad, but true: the Williams of today does not bring much to a future relationship. Would be great to see them a contender again, but in terms of success in the public eye they have been basically irrelevant for several years.
Enzo Ferrari was a great man. But he was not a good man. -- Phil Hill
Williams remind me of Team Lotus. Once front runners and known for innovation now sliding away into mid-field anonymity. Very sad indeed.
If Williams were to return to Renault engines, I guess they are hoping to do what Red Bull is doing, but it’ll take a lot more than just an engine to return Williams back to their former glory.
Renault returning to just supplying engines would not be a bad move I don’t think. It would allow them to retire from F1 whilst still maintaining a presence that could allow them to return as a team (rather than just an engine supplier) at the right moment.
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