Test rigs at the mysterious building 9 have people thinking that maybe the approaches to Ferrari , Honda and Merc were a distraction , as they have apparently sorted the IP on the PU , and will now diverge into their own , using a Renault block at the start .
Illien's 40 horse head belongs to RBR , and they are also responsible for some of the rest of the electronic stuff , so they've got a head start on Honda , with an "unbranded" year until they take it up themselves .

Renault takes up Lotus , and all is well .

That way , RBR will be putting it all on the line , with nobody to blame for failure but themselves .


If this was the plan all along , then it's a clever one .
They dropped a horsepower guy in to play with a motor that's already integrated into your design , and now own almost all but the block .
And , it doesn't seem anybody , including Renault , saw it coming .



That is , if any of it is true .