Renault to buy Lotus ?

It's possible that Prost wasn't a good manager, but you have to see his failure in the context of the time. I think Prost realised very early that he had been set up, and duped by people he had trusted to back him up. Under Guy Ligier the team would have gone to the wall the same way, but it was given a new lease of life until it fell on Prost's lap.

 

I seriously doubt if presence in F1 really increase sales for car manufacvturers. Most of Renaults. which are practical budget to small compact cars, are bought by people who read and watch tests and reviews in the media. Practicality, reliability and economy are more of a concern when choosing a car in that market than anything else. I don't think that a Renault GP victory pushes people to rush to their nearest dealer with their cheque book.

BTW, the brand that has grown the most in recent years in France is DACIA; a company that has no presence in motorsport!

 

I don't know if the believe in it, but they pretend they do.

For a major motor racing manufacturer, being in motor racing at that level (F1) has other purposes maybe. It's a serious R & D programme to experiment new technologies, materials, methods which may benefit their road cars in future. It may take time for new technologies to trickle down to production level, but they do invariably.

It's also good for brand awareness, unless it's the same suspects doing it over and over again - like Mercedes, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Renault, etc... in that case they are overdoing it. Who doesn't know them?

It would be interesting to see KIA, or Mitsubishi, or Subaru, or Volvo appear in F1 perhaps?

Yes, DACIA is a Renault brand, the poor relative of the family, but people buy them because they are cheap budget cars, not because they are distantly associated with Renault's multi WDC or WCC. Most people couldn't care less about F1.

 

Without mentioning "the elephant in the room" for big corporations; by which I mean that the racing budget (buried under the marketing or advertising title) is tax deductible on the balance sheet!!

If you are CEO of a company that posts $ hundreds of millions of profit every year and pays a large tax bill for it, it's quite tempting to "waste a few $ millions in a racing programme. That may or may not promote sales, but invariably it gives columns in the press, air time on TV, and a good entertainment to your clients, dealers and executives.

 

Maybe the guy who will design their chassis will listen to those who design the engine, unlike Adrian Newey...

 

Newey had been told by Renault not to pack the engine too tightly in the chassis last year but choose to ignore the recommended clearances. As soon as the car ran, the heat-soak from the engine started to cook sensors and components in the PU electronic system.
Weeks were lost changing components or relocating them in different spots, and improvising ducts to keep them cool.
Toro Rosso cars could run before Red Bull which spend most of 2014 trying to get round the problems.