Speaking in Monaco, where Fernando Alonso scored his fourth win of the season, extending his championship lead to 21 points, Renault CEO, Carlos Ghosn, assured his race team, that the necessary funding will be made available to keep it at the top.

"We say: 'It is your responsibility to compete at the top level and win, what is the budget you need?'" said Ghosn. "There are rumours about cost-cutting but we are the second most profitable group in the industry."

However, he warned that unlike some of Renault's pitlane rivals, funding will not be unlimited.

"We don't need to adapt our strategy to our means, we can adapt our means to our strategy," he said. "The budget does not come first. We don't say, 'that is the budget and that is the performance we will have'.

"The best people usually use a smaller budget for better results," he continued, "the less successful people use a big budget with no results. Our people are very disciplined, they are not trying to use the fact that Renault is winning to say, 'I want more money'.

"I am really proud of the team getting our championship last year and competing this year with probably one of the smallest budgets. I would be very embarrassed if I had the biggest budget and no results."

There is an ongoing feeling that, as in the 90s, when Renault engines we're all conquering, the French team is not capitalising on its racing success. Ghosn agrees...

"I always said that the challenge for Renault in Formula One was not participating," he admitted, "it is how you use the fall-out from Formula One to sell Renault cars. We are in Formula One and we are going to stay in Formula One, the only question is - how do you use it?"