Renault will return to Formula One as a constructor next year after signing key contracts this week to acquire the struggling Lotus team.

Announcing the move, a big boost for the sport after months of uncertainty, the French carmaker’s chief executive Carlos Ghosn said he wanted the team to be competitive by 2019.

“Renault had two options: come back 100 per cent or leave completely,” he said.

“After detailed analysis, I made my decision: Renault will be present in Formula One from 2016.”

Renault signed a letter of intent in September to take a controlling stake in British-based Lotus, the team it previously owned but sold in late 2009 after a race fixing scandal involving the 2008 Singapore GP.

Lotus, who employ some 480 staff at their factory in Oxford, have struggled financially and were facing legal action and possible administration over unpaid taxes.

They had been due back in the London High Court next Monday.

Ghosn said work was under way to implement as quickly as possible the agreement concerning the acquisition, and key contracts had been signed on Thursday.

“Lotus appeared the best team to partner. We’ve known each other for 15 years and we were world champions together in 2005 and 2006,” a statement said.

Renault, which also won world championships with Michael Schumacher under the Benetton guise in 1994 and 1995, were renamed Lotus in 2011.