28/06/2018
NEWS STORY
While he is the man that almost everyone would want on their fantasy F1 team, Renault has denied that it intends making a jaw-dropping bid to lure Adrian Newey away from Red Bull.
In recent weeks there has been media speculation that the French manufacturer was seeking to make an eye-watering bid for the Briton whose F1 cars have been winning titles since the early 90s.
However, talking ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, Abiteboul - whose team has made some audacious signings over the last year, not least the FIA's own technical boss Marcin Budkowski - denied that he was looking to lure Newey to Enstone.
Asked if he was interested in securing the Briton's service, the Frenchman gave an emphatic: "No!"
"Massive respect to Adrian for what he's done and keeps doing," he continued. "I don't feel like he's going to be contractless, I rather feel like he's extremely committed to Red Bull and Aston Martin on a number of projects, on the one hand.
"On the other hand, we've got a strong, established structure that I fully trust," he added. "Bob, Marcin Budkowski who joined us and is taking up the global management of Enstone, Nick Chester, Rob White on Enstone operations. That's it, I think we've got the right structure to do the job, by far. Now, we need to make it work."
Since returning to F1 as a constructor, Renault has invested a small fortune in rebuilding the team it had previously sold in 2010, not only terms of headcount, which has increased dramatically, but also in terms of its facilities. Indeed, at a time the sport is seeking to impose a budget cap the French manufacturer has spent a fortune in its bid to return to the top, which is why the Newey bid wasn't entirely dismissed.
"We spend a lot of time building the team at the moment," admitted Abiteboul. "It was Bob Bell's goal in particular, he was somewhat away from the day-to-day work, from chassis design, which really is Nick Chester's responsibility.
"In late 2018, we'll reach the end of our initial three-year plan, we'll be in line with our goals building the team and our sporting goals.
"While I'm perfectly aware that we're still a second off the top teams' pace, the question we need to ask is: What's the plan for the next three years, from 2019 to 2021, so that in 2021, we're on target to fight for the championship?"
Check out our Thursday gallery from Spielberg, here.