Abiteboul leaves door open for Renault exit

Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul has cast doubt on his future at the helm of the Formula 1 team beyond the end of this season.

Abiteboul has been tasked with what he has described as the "extra mission" of restructuring manufacturer Alpine.

The Renault F1 team is to be rebranded as Alpine from next season, but whether Abiteboul will be involved remains to be seen as he has refused to confirm his plans for 2021.

Regarding the reorganisation of Alpine, Abiteboul said: "It’s a mission which I started, which I will have in hand in a couple of weeks and part of the deliverable of that mission will see obviously some proposals in terms of structure that I absolutely do not want to comment on here and now.

"What I can tell you is that I remain in the context of that mission until the end this year fully committed in my role as team principal."

Abiteboul, who joined Renault in 2015 after previously serving as team principal for the short-lived Caterham team for two years, outlined his current dual role.

"The exact situation is that I have been asked by the CEO Luca de Meo to take as an extra mission the structuring of Alpine as a car company, as a brand," added Abiteboul.

"But not just a brand inside of things but what’s the product strategy, what’s the business model within the context of Renault Group changing massively of organisation, and also strategy, given the overall situation."

Renault is currently fifth in the constructors' championship, just 23 points behind McLaren and nine adrift of Racing Point in the battle for third.

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