JOHANNESBURG: French automaker Renault has revealed that it has signed a letter of intent to buy a controlling stake in struggling British Formula One team Lotus.
Confirming the news, Renault, whose partnership with Red Bull is heading for a split, said that it had signed an agreement with Lotus’ owner Genii Capital, adding that this would be a first step towards a Renault F1 team project, Sport24 reported.
Renault was previously an F1 team, but due to race-fixing scandal in 2008, the team was sold and renamed to Lotus.
Lotus, which have been facing financial problems, were recently left waiting for their engine before the Japanese Grand Prix race.
Earlier in 2014, Lotus had ended its long-term relationship with Renault to switch to F1's best engine Mercedes in an attempt to improve their competitiveness.