Ghosn Pledges Support For F1 Team

[AZhitman]

Win on Sunday, get a budget boost on Monday - that's the way it seems to be working for Renault's Formula 1 team. The team has been operating under a cloud of uncertainty about its future ever since Carlos Ghosn (right), renowned cost-cutter, took the reins as president and CEO of Renault. Indeed, many attribute the pending loss of 2005 world champion (and 2006 points leader) Fernando Alonso at the end of the season to his possible concerns about the future of the team.

Ghosn, in attendance at Renault's dominating performance in this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, moved to affirm his support for Renault's F1 effort, saying, "There are a lot of cars arriving in the next three years that will benefit directly from the halo effect of our Formula 1 victories." (The team's F1 drivers figure prominently in PR shots for its newly-launched Clio Renault Sport model, for example.)

More importantly (certainly to the team), the famously frugal Ghosn confirmed that the team would have the "necessary funding" to compete "at the top level." He did take a dig at some of Renault's more, um, free-spending rivals in Formula 1 (read, Toyota), saying, "We are achieving the best results on one of the smallest budgets... It would be embarassing if things were the other way round, and we had the biggest budget with no results."

[skylndrftr]

I think ti would be an awesome idea if they ran the japanese grandprix badged Nissan but I know it will never happen. Make Toyota and Honda look silly on home turf

[Dano]

He did take a dig at some of Renault's more, um, free-spending rivals in Formula 1 (read, Toyota), saying, "We are achieving the best results on one of the smallest budgets... It would be embarassing if things were the other way round, and we had the biggest budget with no results."

OUUUUCH! That's awesome, I'm really glad to hear that they are putting forth the care and effort to take care of their team and keep them going at the leval and rate they're going. This is awesome news!

-Dan