Mr. Caubet, General Manager of Renault, answers a few questions

After the seemingly lenient sanction by the FIA World Council, Renault can reconsider its long-term future. The new interim General Manager of the team, Jean-François Caubet, agreed to answer a few questions regarding financial and moral aspects, as well as the driver line-up.

Jean-François, what are the first changes after the World Council?

We wanted to act quickly and set up a transitional organization with two leaders, Bob Bell and myself, because the team is running well. Obviously, it has undergone a painful and humiliating shock. But it is running. We are focused on two objectives: performance and financing. We will continue to advance (the single-seater) towards the end of the year, but our main investment is on the 2010 car. It is already well advanced, almost finished. There is a major technological evolution.

And in terms of financing?

The period is very difficult for sponsors. Despite the extremely significant cost reduction, the sponsor side will not be able to finance the 2010 budget at the same level as in 2009. We need to look for our funding methods. We didn’t move much until the end of the World Council. But now, we’re going to start again.

What lessons do you draw from the scandal?

This team needs to rediscover its Renault culture. We don’t want to fall back into the pitfalls of the 1980s, where headquarters controlled the team. But we also don’t want to repeat some of the mistakes we made by giving 100% autonomy to the team.

You are making internal changes. Why?

There is no contact to find a team manager. I have no comment on the names put forward. We will look for someone once the profile is determined. This could be in December, in January. Paradoxically, we do not have a short-term problem but a long-term one. The team manager works on the long term, not on the short term.

What about the future of Renault?

We will not make an official statement, as it would be the seventh on this subject. Since 2002, we have been asked this question every three months. In recent weeks, when we realized we were guilty, we had two decisions to make. Either we decided not to cross the fire, or the opposite. We ended up crossing the fire. We came out charred, it’s true. The image of the team was severely affected. We had very bad press. We made the front page of newspapers all over the world for fifteen days. But it’s not after crossing the fire that you decide to stop. We should have said we were stopping before.

What is the atmosphere in the stable?

There were a lot of tensions in the team. Since the 21st (the day of the World Motor Sport Council), we have found some positive tensions. That’s the team’s strength. Today, things are happening in all directions without questioning. We are still under tension because ING (Renault’s main partner) is leaving us, sponsorship and financing are difficult, there are issues with the balance and business model of F1 in the longer term… There are serious questions that need to be addressed, and we must find answers to them.

According to a statement from the Renault F1 Team