Red Bull not caving to Renault ultimatum
- Published on 15 Jun 2018 08:46
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- By: Jeroen Jonkers
Red Bull is not caving in to Renault's pressure to immediately make its choice of engine supplier for 2019.
The energy drink owned team wants to finally choose between Renault or Honda power between the forthcoming French and Austrian grands prix.
But Renault's Cyril Abiteboul insists: "In Austria, our offer is not going to be there anymore. They'll have to talk to Honda."
Red Bull boss Christian Horner, though, says the team needs another race to analyse the latest performance steps made by both Renault and Honda in Montreal.
"We're taking a close look in Canada and France. Then we'll make our choice," he said.
Dr Helmut Marko also doesn't see why Renault is making such a fuss about a few more days of delay.
"Whether it's France or Austria, it's only a few days. I don't know what's so important about it all of a sudden.
"We will announce our decision between the grands prix in France and the race in Austria," the Red Bull official added.
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Replies (14)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yup, same old business as usual. And it wont surprise me if Renault will accept this. Its a weird situation for Renault, since they have clearly shown that they dont really like working with Red Bull, yet they want them to stay due to them being the best Renault powered team.
Hepp
Posts: 200
Renault layed out their deadline, Red Bull delay, say 4 weeks ... so if Red Bull accept Renault's PU's, then Red Bull gets new spec. PU's 4 weeks later than McL.
denis1304
Posts: 284
buy Force India -> close Force India -> get Mercedes engine -> LOL
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Nice conspiracy, but Merc' would deny them anyway.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Its not legally possible ( in reality of course).
Norbert
Posts: 108
Why should Red Bull be pressured? If they are evaluating the competitor Honda engine they need to see at least half the season to evaluate. The Renault engine has been successful for them and is doing well this year. Honda makes engines that drivers like, but somehow they are always down on outright power. Button took the one successful Honda engine to a Championship with a magical ability to conserve momentum. So why are Renault spitting the dummy? Do not need a signed contract to design their new engine? I don’t think the numbered blocks are ready to be cast just yet.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
the spiel is that it's to do with lead times for components. However the amount of actual units is low it only 4 per car so 8 + spares for testing.
The most amount of engines are being build for the dyno and development of these engines and that has no impact on how many teams you need to supply.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Are you referring to the Brawn Button won with? That one had a Merc' engine in it.
Norbert
Posts: 108
Right calle.itw. I am mistaken and Button won with a Merc engine. There was no Championship winning Honda engine, only 3 victories and 9 podiums in 88 races. And as Boudy says, “development of these (Renault) engines…has no impact on how many teams you need to supply.” So I will just say that Renault should not need to threaten the Red Bull team at this time.
Norbert
Posts: 108
(I think maybe Honda engines in more F1 races than that Wiki stat but no more wins)
F1_IS_Dead
Posts: 123
The moment Red Bull announces partnership with Honda, they are getting garbage from Renault from that point until the end of the season. It only is natural to extend the announcement.
Major Tom
Posts: 152
I sympathize with Red Bull. Staying with Renault means more of the same frustrations of not being a works team and having a less powerful engine than your main competition. While having a Honda engine looks like it could easily be worse. Perhaps they could buy Williams and use their Mercedes engines!
xoya
Posts: 583
FIA has failed here. If I remember correctly, they have imposed a may 1st deadline for manufacturers to provide a list of customer teams they will supply next season. If I don't, excuse me...
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Basically, there doesnt have to be anything more than a handshake deal or sorta pledge. RB has done such, so they are cooking by the book, even if the soup might have a sorta sour taste.