Red Bull delays engine decision for another month
- Published on 29 May 2018 12:42
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- By: Jeroen Jonkers
Red Bull will make Renault wait even longer to find out if it intends to use the French manufacturer's F1 power unit in 2019.
Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul is frustrated that the energy drink owned team is stalling over its decision to potentially switch to Honda power.
"I do not understand their evasive behaviour," he said. "They want to wait until Canada, but on Monday after the race in Montreal there will be no revelations."
Actually, Red Bull boss Christian Horner says the team will wait much longer than just Canada next weekend.
"It will be a month or so. End of June, beginning of July. It's the timeframe we've always talked about," he said.
"We want to compare the two engines in Canada," added Horner, amid reports both Renault and Honda will use upgrades at the Montreal race weekend.
"We'll get small updates in Montreal but we need to get the most out of them. It's very important to us."
Horner's biggest concern about staying with Renault is that Mercedes and Ferrari are always better in the crucial qualifying sessions.
"If I'm not mistaken, in the last six races the five fastest laps were ours," he said.
"If we get more power in the last qualifying session, there will be nothing stopping us from making the lives of Mercedes and Ferrari very difficult," Horner added.
An hour before the Monaco grand prix, three senior Honda officials were seen exiting the Red Bull motorhome.
Renault's Abiteboul says the French outfit would like to stay with Red Bull.
"We would like to continue with Red Bull if they give us a three-year warranty," he said. "Then we could have planning security, invest more and justify more resources."
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Replies (6)
Login to replyrenaultFanF1
Posts: 80
I don't understand how Renault still wants to work with the team that talks bad about them ever since the V6 era started. They even renamed their engine, but still badmouth Renault every time when the performance is not to their liking.
They should just cut them loose and focus on their own team perfromance to get into top 3
boudy
Posts: 1,168
@RENAULTFANF1
The real issue isn't about RENAULT it is about the REDBULL F1 team having access to an competitive PU. When RENAULT pulled out of the F1 they stopped their major investment into F1 PUs. RENAULT has been behind in the engine curve compared to Mercedes and Ferrari as an general theme since the introduction of these types of hybrid engines.
Mercedes and Ferrari would not supply RB and mcLaren in order to maintain advantage against those teams. They would not even supply Toro Rosso with the latest Ferrari.
RB pays for this rebadge, they pay for using their own oil supplier and they pay for the PUs. Renault not supplying RB would not mean an performance increase in their own team performance. RB actually contributes to the performance of their PU thus not having them might have an negative effect in real terms.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I'd like to add to BOUDY's comment by saying that Renault get some real valuable data from Red Bull, since they are their more successful customer team AND they are running the same engine as Renault and McLaren but with different lube and fuel. This gives them similar data but from a completely different situation, and thats invaluable. Furthermore, Renault get far more money from RB (or TAG really, in this case) than from McLaren, and for good advertisement for the Renault brand (despite the trash talking, RB's performance is good marketing for Renault).
Hombibi
Posts: 137
Maybe I have missed something, but I have not heard/seen Red Bull say many bad things about Renault this year, or last year. Nothing that comes even close to the row they had three years ago. Stating that they want a party mode and want more power does not classify as "bad mouthing" to me.
I'd go a step further and say Renault should be a little ashamed or at least a little bit humble that they are not able to provide Red Bull with an engine that is up to par with the quality of their chassis, which I think after having seen Monaco qualifications is the best one of the field. Abiteboul accusing them publicly of not being grateful is a bit unnecessary. Maybe he tried to distract the audience?
So far I have mainly heard respectful praise for the effort made at Renault. The fact that RB did not immediately announce, and still have not announced their engine choice for next year since Abiteboul aired it is rather irrelevant. If Abiteboul really expected an answer so early in the season than he is the wrong man on the job there. Red Bull has no option but wait until the very last moment. They are in the unique position to make a choice. But it will still be a gamble. So in order to have the best chance to put together a winning car for next year they have to wait, as long as possible, and stretch it a bit. They would be pretty stupid not too, and anyone expecting something else needs to get the blinkers off. :-)
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
They've lamented the lack of power and poor reliability, and STR questioned why they couldnt get spare parts in time, implying Renault was intentionally trying to slow them down so as to get one less rival to worry about. Mind, RB has not been a perfect partner.
Hombibi
Posts: 137
Maybe because they are the fastest team running a renault engine, and they pay for it.