alright,.. thanks steve.. here is something i found to clear my (and others) confusion over this damn Lotus saga :S ...
Group Lotus confirms buy-in to Renault F1 team
There will be a new partnership on the F1 grid next year as Group Lotus, owned by the Malaysian government via Proton, has bought a stake in the Enstone based F1 team, creating Lotus Renault GP.
This deal, which sees Lotus come in both as an equity partner alongside Genii Capital, the teams’ main shareholder, and as the main sponsor of the team, has been mooted for many months now and was finally signed off at the start of this week. In addition to a stake in the team, which is open ended, Lotus will be the title sponsor until at least 2017.
For the moment, Genii has bought out Renault’s 25% stake and will then sell a stake to Group Lotus, believed to be between 25% and 50%.
A photo with proposed livery has been issued and the car switches to the iconic black and gold of the JPS Lotus days from the 1970s. This was an idea that Tony Fernandes announced for Team Lotus for next year and he ran a fan competition to design the livery.
Although this move means the end of Renault having a stake in an F1 team, its name remains on several levels. First the chassis will still be called a Renault. Second, the car will have significant Renault branding, thirdly the engine operation in Viry Chatillon will operate as Renault Sport F1 and as such will be a profit centre for Renault, supplying the engines to Lotus Renault GP, Red Bull and the team currently entered as Team Lotus and owned by Tony Fernandes.
So without any of the liability of running its own team, Renault is still getting a lot out of this deal and there is a financial consideration for this, but nothing like what it used to spend. To the man in the street it will look like Renault is still heavily engaged in F1 and will benefit from any success the team accrues.... (contd.)
^ well this clears up things for me.. and after reading this, i think Renault made a strategically good decision for themselves :S ...