Button and Alonso linked to Renault in wake of Suzuka debacle

Renault's 'letter of intent' has given Lotus ten more weeks to finalise the sale of the embattled Enstone team to the French car manufacturing giant.

Mere hours before Lotus faced London's high court on Monday, Renault announced that it is now committed to completing the deal "in the coming weeks".

Also promised to the court was that a loan agreement had been made so that British authorities would receive its $4 million in unpaid taxes and insurance, resulting in the case being adjourned for ten more weeks.

So if the buyout is complete by December, there is the strong possibility that Renault will be back in 2016 with a full works team.

It is expected that Romain Grosjean, currently at Lotus, will be unveiled on Tuesday as a Haas driver for 2016. Pastor Maldonado has already been confirmed by Lotus for next year.

So if Renault has a seat open, it is believed that Jenson Button or Fernando Alonso could well be a leading contenders to abandon the McLaren-Honda project and switch camps.

That would explain the odd spat between Button and team boss Ron Dennis who vowed to honour Button's 2016 contract but the 2009 F1 world champion refusing to commit.

"If I am in F1 next season, it is to be competitive," Button told Equipe. "Fighting for eighth place does not interest me."

Probably Button's closest friend in the paddock is former F1 driver turned television commentator David Coulthard, who admits there is a possibility the 35-year-old will quit McLaren.

"If Jenson still has a passion, and a belief that Honda will make a huge step forward, just as Ferrari did this year, then he should continue," he wrote in the Telegraph.

"But if he fears another year like this, then he needs to move on. Otherwise it is just going to be counterproductive," Coulthard added.

Meanwhile also at Suzuka on the other side of the McLaren garage, Alonso's patience finally boiled over as declared he was "embarrassed" driving an F1 car with "GP2 engine" power.

He also cast doubt over his plans beyond 2015 when he was asked by media in Japan about his future, “I don’t know, there are still five races to go now and I think we need to improve the situation and make sure we are competitive and on top of our problems.”

However he did recant later, pledging his future to McLaren-Honda and making all the right noises about ending his F1 career with victories for the team.

But the first blow has been struck in his relationship with the team, with severalrespected F1 pundits questioning how long things will last not that the proverbial 'cat is out of the bag'.

The return of Lotus as a works team inevitably rekindles memories of the Spaniard's and Renault's most successful period in Formula 1 when they together took back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006. At the time the team were operating out of Enstone too.

Alonso knows all the key players in the 'new' operation very well and said recently, "[Renault] is a very big manufacturer with a lot of history behind Renault in Formula 1. They are quite linked together in the history of this sport, so hopefully they stay."