Abiteboul: Potential new teams are in contact with us

Last week, despite reports that up to three potential outfits are interested in joining the grid in 2021, Liberty Media declared "no serious discussions" are taking place, but talks are clearly taking place with Renault.

When asked about the Silverstone based outfit called Panthera, Abiteboul responded: "There are people - not just Panthera - who think that F1 is moving in the right direction with the rules for 2021. Some of these people contacted us and discussed possible partnerships."

Abiteboul said recently that not convincing McLaren to become more closely aligned with Renault was a missed opportunity. McLaren is instead moving to Mercedes power for 2021.

Now, Abiteboul told Championat that his French team would engage with interested parties, "We are open for discussions about projects of this type. We are not interested in teams that would come and go, but if it's a really strong project, then why not?"

At the same time, the Renault boss is confident that focusing on their works team will be a great deal easier without having to cater and service customers outfits.