Red Bull teams hoping to get through Renault parts crisis
- Published on 16 Nov 2017 11:21
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- By: Rob Veenstra
Red Bull is hoping for the best as the troubled end to engine supplier Renault's season concludes next weekend in Abu Dhabi. In Brazil, emotions spilled over between the French manufacturer and Red Bull's junior team Toro Rosso, as each accused the other of being to blame for reliability problems.
Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost said he will not apologise. "If the team is being criticised and I feel it is not correct, then we need to make a statement and that's exactly what we did," he said, according to UOL.
On behalf of Red Bull, Dr Helmut Marko tried to heal the wounds but said neither team is happy. "Of course it's not satisfactory," he said. "They did not solve the problems and parts are running out. Unfortunately Toro Rosso was affected more than the other teams and that's why emotions were high. But we discussed it, made a statement and everything is ok."
Now, with no more Renault spare parts on the shelf at all, Red Bull and Toro Rosso are just hoping to make it through the Abu Dhabi finale. Already in Brazil, after a run of great races for Max Verstappen in particular, performance was throttled.
"We are glad the engines survived," Red Bull's Christian Horner admitted to Auto Motor und Sport. But when asked what will happen if parts fail in practice in Abu Dhabi, he answered: "We don't want that to happen. It would be an expensive job to sort that out."
What is clear is that Horner does not blame the actual Renault mechanics, who have been working particularly hard at recent races. "What the Renault mechanics have done is a small miracle," he said. "For weeks they have been making old parts workable and screwing them on from one car to another." (GMM)
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Replies (9)
Login to replykngrthr
Posts: 203
i hope I'm not the only one who sees how stupid this situation is.
secondhand parts on an F1 racing car.
next year will be worse with less engines.
each team should use them up in the first three races, then agree to coordinate penalties. so everyone gets a 20 grid penalty every week and all start in the qualifying positions they earned.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Blimming joke... Renault are looking extremely bad in this. Can't really blame toro Rossi/ Red bull for their dissatisfaction.
samuelw
Posts: 21
are renault sure they want to continue with these engines??
honda have not got it right
renault are only a bit better
ferrari and merc only ones that have sorted it properly
roll on new engines hopefully lighter and cars more nimble again..
this year they sorted the look of the car. next year they will look sh*! again
then it goes behind a paywall a year later.
it all stacks up to f1 is shooting its self in foot and fans will go watch wec at a 3rd of the cost.. or a full season of tcr for price of tickets..
f1 teams needs to take its head out of its own a** and think of the fans more
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
The whole 3 engine limit for next year looks increasingly stupid.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It is stupid. 5 were perfect. 4 were suboptimal, 3 are abysmal.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Insane. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of motor sport development, cutting edge technology not a 150,000 mile workhorse alla Merc taxis, Mondeos, etc.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
The day on which Red Bull ditches Renault is drawing ever closer. Its their fourth season, and they havent caught up to Ferrari. Heck, they cant even supply their customers with spare parts (this isnt the first time), and they've stopped upgrading their units halfway through the season twice in a row now. All of this, despite being fed data from multiple teams every season. Despite having plenty of time to plan for the hybrid era. Red Bull tried to cut their ties with them earlier, Im sure they will try again, sooner or later. If it isnt with a switch to Honda, it'll be with something else.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Let's maybe not forgetting Max Szwaj joined Aston almost 12 months ago as VP and chief technical officer from Ferrari & Maserati where he was head of innovation and body engineering and previous spells at BMW & Porsche. Add that to the Adrian Newey input.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Newey hasnt been responsible for the PU bits though, its completely out of his field. And Max Szwaj is one resource. Aston lacks all of them, one wont do anything to change that. Im pretty sure they've hired him as a consult to determine if an entry is possible, if it isnt he'll be going somewhere else. As far as I can see, it isnt possible for AM to enter the PU-supplier gang. They lack the funds, the know-how (sufficient know-how), and the facilities to design, construct and supply teams with PUs.