Tony Fernandes has denied that Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar tried to broker a deal for the Proton owned group to collaborate with Team Lotus in Formula One.
Earlier this week, Bahar told the media that he approached Fernandes to discuss a possible deal between Lotus Cars and the current F1 team, but said negotiations broke down after Fernandes demanded three times what Renault wanted.
“A question that has come up many times was why did you not find an amicable solution with Tony Fernandes? Well we tried,” he said on Wednesday.
“If you can go with a top five team [Renault] that is maybe one third of the cost that was asked by the other side, then that makes sense.”
Fernandes though has denied negotiations progressed that far and says the figure of three times more is a ‘complete fabrication.’
“There was no such thing as an offer,” the Lotus team principal told Autosport.
“There is an understanding that Lotus’s involvement with Renault is worth £20 million, which would therefore mean that I was seeking £60 million – which is a complete fabrication.
“We never got past an initial dinner meeting. Dany Bahar and Riad Asmat met and that was it. No offers were ever exchanged,” he added.
