Lotus set to switch to Renault engines next season

The new Lotus team are closing on a deal to switch to Renault engines next year, BBC Sport understands.

Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes and technical director Mike Gascoyne had a meeting with Renault on Sunday morning at the British Grand Prix.

Both sides are keen on a deal, which is expected to include road car tie-ins.

Gascoyne refused to comment on Renault but said: "We have a contract with Cosworth and we're discussing with them ways to work together in the future."

BBC SPORT

Interesting. Which car manufacturer owns Lotus now? Are they purely a sports car maker or is Proton somehow linked to this (I have a feeling its Proton or another similar sounding car manufacturer who owns Lotus now?).

Could be a good move to get them up the field although I still argue customer cars should be allowed in Formula 1 like many other sports (like WRC, BTCC etc where the manufactuers can sell their cars on to other teams but they have to do all the work on it themselves for that year). Costs would fall significantly perhaps and it would encourage teams to try new ideas etc.

Hopefully this means Lotus will be more competative next season, I also belive BBC said they were working on next years car now and scrapping this years? If so it would make sense for engine talks to be taking place or already in advanced stages.

@ Garfield: Lotus Racing is own by a group of people; Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian government, Proton etc. Proton dosen't own Lotus Racing but it owns Lotus Cars which is the car manufacturing division of Lotus Group.mjk1

Ah yes, so are Lotus cars production cars as I dont recall seeing any? Is it kind of the sports arm of Proton motor cars?

I recall Proton being in the BTCC but that was short lived if memory serves me :(