Speaking about the new engine deal, team boss Horner said: “Well, we have and agreement in place for next year, so it’s great news that we will be on the grid next year, but unfortunately due to circumstance beyond our control we can’t announce exactly what that is”.
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Lotus has been in a protracted negotiation with Renault for a long time and the two companies have already signed a letter of intent in September.
In recent days, weeks and months, the French carmaker has been closing in on a deal to buy out the Lotus team and return to full works status in 2016. It was a race against time for their engineers to get the cars ready for the practice on Friday.
He said: “I think when we had our opportunities in Singapore and Budapest, races where it was ours for the taking, I think I was still maximising my chances”.
But Horner has said the sport’s decision to change to 1.6-litre V6 turbo power units in 2014 was a “mistake”. We had to see if there were any positives from it and if what they saw on the dyno was replicating what we felt on track.
“What I can say is that there will be no announcement regarding Renault’s future over the weekend, but there will be an announcement, very likely, in the course of next week”.
Abiteboul insisted: “We have always said that we would like to do that (announcement) after the season”. It is good for the race that it goes a bit later into the evening, so if that is a sign of our speed then hopefully that is good for us.
“Fifty people have been working, night and day, on the realising of a majority stake in Lotus”.
“It will have a development path – ironically of what we were trying to achieve 12 months ago”, said Cristian Horner, team principal of RedBull Racing. If we can clear the Force India at the start, I would have a bit more confidence to try hanging with Ferrari.
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“But we have learnt a lot and there are also some strong steps forward that will consolidate us in future”.
