Getting Better off Season !!

Renault have called for patience as the French manufacturer weighs up the pros and cons of following Toyota out of Formula One. Meanwhile the looser of the FIA presidential campaign Ari Vatanen has said that Renault would be right to quit F1 - Now thanks God he didn't get elected. With such pessimism, F1 would never have survived.

On Wednesday, Toyota announced their immediate withdrawal from Formula One, citing the "current severe economic realities" for their decision.

Hours later another team, Renault, appeared to be facing the same fate as the French carmakers held an extraordinary board meeting to discuss its future plans.

And with the recent Singapore race-fixing scandal fresh in the minds as well as the two-year suspended ban hanging over their heads, many are predicting Renault will be the next team to walk away.

However, Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn has revealed that no decision was made on Wednesday, although one will be forthcoming before the year is out.

"You will have to be patient," Ghosn told Reuters.

"We will make an announcement on our participation in Formula 1 before the end of the year."

Should Renault quit Formula One, they will become the fourth major manufacturer to leave, joining Honda, BMW and Toyota.

Ferrari have joined the fun too. Ferrari now blame "those who managed Formula 1 over the past few years" and not the economic crisis for Toyota's decision to leave Formula One.

Toyota announced their immediate withdrawal from the sport on Wednesday, bringing the number of manufacturers to have walked away to three in the past year as Honda and BMW also quit F1.

The Japanese manufacturer cited the "current severe economic realities" for their decision, however, Ferrari reckon the blame rests with former FIA President Max Mosley.

"It could be seen as a parody of "Ten Little Indians," the detective novel by Agatha Christie, first published in England back in 1939, but the reality is much more serious," said the team's website.

"Formula 1 continues to lose major players: in the past twelve months, Honda, BMW, Bridgestone and Toyota have announced they are leaving the sport.

"In exchange, so to speak, we will now have, Manor, Lotus (at least in name only, as this incarnation has little to do with the team that gave us Colin Chapman, Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna to name but a few,) USF1 and Campos Meta.

"Can we claim that it's a case of like for like, just because the numbers sitting around the table are the same? Hardly and we must also wait and see just how many of them will really be there on the grid for the first race of next season in Bahrain and how many will still be there at the end of 2010.

"The reality is that this gradual defection from the F1 fold has more to do with a war waged against the major car manufacturers by those who managed Formula 1 over the past few years, than the result of any economic crisis.

"In Christie's work of fiction, the guilty party was only uncovered when all the other characters died, one after the other. Do we want to wait for this to happen or do we want to pen a different ending to the book on Formula 1?"