Four-time world champion, Alain Prost has been appointed non-executive director at Renault Sport Racing, the company behind the F1 team. It is a similar to that enjoyed by Niki Lauda at Mercedes, though the Austrian also had a stake in the outfit.

The move comes as Thierry Bolore steps down form the board of the team who is to concentrate on the road car side of the business in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal.

Prost has been involved with the French team, for whom he raced for three seasons in the early 80s, since its return to the sport in 2015.

While his role has been mainly ambassadorial it is unclear if that will change following his appointment.

The appointment sees Prost join existing directors, Cyril Abiteboul, Jerome Stoll, Thierry Cognet, Renault Group financial chief and Genii boss Gerard Lopez, who retained a small stake in the team courtesy of Gravity Motorsports involvement in its previous incarnation as Lotus.

News of Prost's appointment was revealed by Christian Sylt at Formula Money, who was also quick to rubbish claims that Renault has already signed to race beyond 2020, making clear that such a move would involve Renault agreeing to race under regulations which were not yet known.

Prost won three of his titles with McLaren and the fourth with Williams, the Frenchman subsequently buying the Ligier F1 team which contested 83 Grands Prix between 1997 and 2001 as Prost Grand Prix.