French carmaker Renault is entirely happy with its involvement in formula one, despite its name finally disappearing from the teams’ entry list for 2012.
The marque is now purely an engine supplier, with a close relationship with world champions Red Bull and ’customer’ deals in place for 2012 with Lotus, Williams and Caterham.
Renault SA’s commitment as a full works team began to waver two years ago, but new chief operating officer Carlos Tavares now insists F1 is "highly profitable" for the manufacturer.
"It costs us a net investment amount of two digits (in millions of euros)," he is quoted as saying by AFP.
"A long time ago I gave up the idea of making calculations on the profitability of F1, because this is an investment that is highly profitable."
Tavares also said he is happy with F1’s new direction for 2014, with the current V8s being replaced by turbo V6 engines.