Lotus bosses are excited by the team's future under expected new owner Renault, as a takeover deal moves closer.

Renault signed a Letter of Intent to take control of Lotus on Monday as part of the process towards returning to F1 as a full constructor next season. Deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi says the history enjoyed by both Renault and the team will act as a motivating tool if a deal is completed.

"It looks like we’re engaged to be married again, which is interesting as we’ve had a few relationships together before!" Gastaldi said. "It’s positive for the sport and it’s positive for Enstone that a company with the history and prestige of Renault is looking to strengthen its role in Formula 1.

"It’s true we’ve both experienced a few knocks over the years but we’ve also had some exceptional highs and that makes us all collectively exceptionally motivated to harness our resilience and show everyone what we can do."

Technical director Nick Chester says the takeover will leave the team with plenty to do before the start of the 2016 season.

"It looks like there are exciting times ahead," Chester said. "We’ve worked exceptionally closely with Renault for many years in our history so it’s going to be exciting to embark on a new phase of our relationship. There’s a lot of work to do for next year so it’s certainly never a dull moment at Enstone."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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