Lotus Mercedes .

[Bagwan]

Deal done for Lotus switch from Renault to Merc PU next year .

[driveace]

ThTs good news for Lotus and Grosjean if he is there next year too

[steveaki13]

Great news for Lotus, and for F1. In terms of their continued participation in F1, because they were rumoured to be leaving at one point.

I think with current engine regs, Mercedes engines should stay strong next season and it should make them stronger.

[Koz]

It's curious to see if their financial situation has improved considering PDVSA is to stop paying for Maldonado.

I hope they're not switching over just to avoid paying Renault :p

[Doc Austin]

This might be good for Lotus, but it's not so good for F1. With Lotus dropping Renault, and rumors of Red Bull doing something else on the engine front, Renault has less and less incentive to stay in F1. If Red Bull goes, you gotta believe Torro Rossa will go with them, so who will Renault have left?

On the outskirts of all of this, we have seen Ferrari making veiled threats to switch to sportscar racing, so if that supply dries up, how many cars are left that are not Mercedes powered?

I don't believe Mercedes is willing to supply the whole grid, and even if they were, would that still be Formula One? It's bad enough we are down to three engine makers. Indycar has two, and there is no end to the talk about how it is in inferior "spec" series. I am pretty sure absolutely no one wants that for F1.

Maybe this opens the possibility of another manufacturer coming in, but who could make a competitive hybrid system and who would spend the money? You might think that Porsche, Audi and Toyota are capable, but I don't think they are going to drop their WEC (where they are all competitive) investment to spend even more money to get smoked off by Mercedes in F1.

I don't believe there will be anyone capable or willing to step up if Renault leaves, and if Ferrari goes, it's over for F1 as we know it.

The problem with unlimited spending on unlimited technology is that there is not an unlimited supply of companies who are willing or capable of playing and spending. Even with the old formula we were down to three good companies, and the current package is so complex that only Mercedes seems to be able to get it right.

[zako85]

Lotus switching to Mercedes is a big blow to Renault. Renault received a considerable amount of marketing exposure thanks to the efforts of Lotus in 2011-2013. But it's also a blow to Lotus that the Renault engine sucks so much this season.

Ferrari leaving for the sports cars is just a rumor, with little substance. However, Renault needs to step up its game. They got too complacent with Renault-powered Red Bull chassis winning the titles for four seasons.

I think that Red Bull has very little options except stick with Renault or perhaps take over the Renault operation. If Honda proves to be a good engine next season, perhaps Red Bull will switch to it as well as other Renault refugees. The bottom line is that the Renault engines probably will continue being seen on the grid in one form or another, or perhaps under a different name. That would still leave F1 with three-four engines in the coming seasons.

The biggest problem with the IndyCar is not the engine. The number one issue people complain about is the spec chassis, but then again what else is new.

[Jag_Warrior]

Maybe time to go underground again. Which one this time: Supertec, Playlife or slide them in under Mecachrome?

MY W.A.G.: already with ties to Infiniti sponsorship and marketing, my guess is Red Bull/Dietrich Mateschitz buys the Renault race engine operations for a song and that will put Red Bull in charge of its own works engine program (what with Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda all taken) and Carlos Ghosn doesn't have to worry about having a rich & high profile enemy in Austria... and he can dump this money losing albatross.

[zako85]

I will be surprised if Renault just walks away from its F1 engine operations after decades of success.