Lopez: This isn't way out for Renault.

Renault F1 stakeholder Gerard Lopez insists that he expects the French marque and his Genii Capital operation to be involved in Formula One for some time to come, silencing rumours that suggest the opposite.

The first Renault F1 challenger since the departure of 'old guard' Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds and arrival of 'white knight' Genii appeared in public on Sunday and has since run at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo in the hands of Robert Kubica, ending speculation that the regie may join Honda, BMW and Toyota in heading for the category's exit door. Luxembourg-based Genii bought a majority stake in Renault shortly before Christmas, enabling the French company to justify its outlay on F1 and avoid having to sell its entry.

The decision to take on significant investment did little to quell speculation that Renault was looking for a way out, but Lopez insists that reality is far removed from rumour.

"I think Renault has chosen Genii and Genii has chosen Renault because there is long-term commitment there," he told ITV-F1 at the launch, "I think that is one of the questions that a lot of people have - why this was a way out for Renault. It certainly isn't.

"The commitment of Renault, the sponsors, partners and Genii is not one of just participating in F1, and that kind of takes away what people have been talking about. At Enstone, we have a workforce of about 480 people [and] that makes this team second, I think, in terms of size. Had Renault wanted to just survive in F1, I can assure you there is a much cheaper way of doing that than keeping almost 500 people in the team.

"I think the commitment to keep those people is also a commitment for performance. It obviously will take time to put together the complete package that is the final package that we would like to have in every sense. From a sponsor perspective and a sporting perspective, I think we were are well on our way."

Lopez also denied that Genii, an investment capital company that has its own sports management off-shoot, would seek either to take over the entry in its own right or sell out for a profit in the near future.

"There is actually no plan," he insisted, "In ten years, if we are still in F1 and Renault is still in partnership [with us], then we would be very happy because that would mean we have probably done exactly what we wanted to do. Certainly, at this stage, there's no expectation from us that Renault would leave or that we would do something for them to leave and buy them out.

"Both parties insisted on making [a long-term commitment] because both parties think there is an advantage in this way forward. So there is no multi-year plan that has an ending to it. There's a multi-year plan that has a performance edge to it but, other than that, it will be business as usual this year, next year and the year after.

"We're not looking to get profits - and that's something that we've been very clear about. This is not a traditional company that you're buying to re-sell. The only profit that we would gain out of this is essentially out of a platform that has yet to be built. Yes, there is a strong intention to make that platform both work and succeed, but this is not about buying a company and re-selling it. We do that somewhere else but not here."

The new R30 was revealed in an eye-catching yellow-and-black livery reminiscent of the Renaults of yore, but with little in the way of visible sponsorship save for the obvious suppliers and major Renault branding. Lopez, however, insists that this is also nothing to worry about.

"For those who have noticed that the car is 'clean', it has to do with the mission statement of the company and the team," he claimed, "It does not have to do with the fact that there are no ongoing discussions with sponsors.

"I think that we will be announcing a number of things over the next couple of weeks. But we really wanted to come back to something that is essential and that's the mission statement for the basis of this team. And that mission statement is summarised in a single word - and that's 'racing'."