Pastor Maldonado has welcomed Renault’s interest in taking over the Lotus F1 Team, although he has no preference to who should partner him in the team next season.

Renault recently signed a letter of intent to assume the majority stake of Lotus at end of the season, and having worked with the manufacturer before, and the recently confirmed Maldonado hopes for ‘great things’ for the Enstone-based team.

“This is positive news and I’m looking forward to things progressing here,” said Maldonado. “I’ve worked with Renault in the past and know that they are real racers.

“I know Enstone always works very hard and we’ve seen what the Enstone and Renault combination has achieved in the past. Let’s hope there are great things ahead.”

With current team-mate Romain Grosjean heading to the Haas F1 Team in 2016, Maldonado has revealed he has no preference on who replaces the Frenchman, as long as they work towards the same goal of improving the car.

“Honestly I have no preference,” insisted Maldonado. “Throughout your career you work with a variety of team-mates so you get used to working with different people.

“Ultimately, everyone is trying to make the car faster and perform as well as it can for an event, so you’re all working to the same objectives.”