Frederic Vasseur: Renault team principal leaves role

Frederic Vasseur has left his position as boss of Renault's Formula 1 team after a single season.

A Renault statement said the decision to part company was "agreed by mutual consent" and was effective immediately.

The move comes after months of claims by sources of a difficult relationship between Vasseur and Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul.

But the statement added that Renault and Vasseur expected to work together again in "a new form in the future".

"There was too much different vision in the management of the team, so it makes sense for me to leave," Vasseur told Motorsport.com., external

"If you want to perform in F1, you need to have one leader in the team and one single way. If you have two different visions then the result is that the work inside the team is slow."

Renault added that the team would continue to be managed by president Jerome Stoll and Abiteboul.

Renault have undertaken a restructure in recent weeks after a difficult first season back as a team owner in 2016 when they finished ninth in the constructors' championship.

Rob White, the long-time boss of Renault's F1 engine division close to Paris, was moved before Christmas to a new role as chief operating officer of the UK-based chassis part of the team in Enstone, Oxfordshire.

Renault are undertaking an expansion programme aimed at increasing staff numbers from a little over 400 when they were in their previous guise as Lotus to more than 600 by the end of this year.

Vasseur, who also runs the ART GP2 team, had formed good relationships with the senior staff at Enstone.

But his departure is likely to have little effect on the day-today running of the team under chief technical officer Bob Bell, technical director Nick Chester, sporting director Alan Permane and chief race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam, who joined this winter from McLaren.