Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has said that the French manufacturer intends to win in Formula 1 without the biggest budget.

Team boss Cyril Abiteboul recently acknowledged that the Enstone team needs more money to take on the might of Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.

Currently, the target is to gradually catch up over the next season or two, but Ghosn said that he thinks it will be possible to beat the top teams without "hundreds of millions of euros".

"We are preparing for our return to the top of the podium by 2020," he is quoted as saying by La Presse.

"The goal is to win under responsible economic conditions."

There are rumours that Renault is trying to woo Adrian Newey, but another fast track to success could be buying a driver like Sebastian Vettel.

"Of course, if there were no budget, we would hire the best drivers in the world," Ghosn said.

"But we're not going to be the richest team. We have proven in the past that we can win while not being the ones who spend the most money or have the best drivers."

Ghosn indicated that he is happy with Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz, but said Renault may also be looking for a driver "who draws attention to our main markets".

"Therefore a French driver would be fine, a Russian driver would be fine, a Chinese driver would extraordinary because we would have the attention of 1.3 billion consumers," he added.

"But you have to find the driver to win so it's always a difficult equation."

The 2018 calendar continues with the French Grand Prix on Sunday.