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Renault claims that the direction of their young drivers will play an important role for future engine deals. Earlier this month, the French manufacturer announced its 2018 junior line-up and aims to have one of them in Formula 1 by 2020.
In years gone by, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes have all produced young drivers, some of whom have found success in the sport. Cyril Abiteboul, Renault's team boss is hoping that the team will follow suit and mirror the current front-runners.
"No plan is constructed for the time being," he told Sky Sports. "But if you look at the way you can access F1, being able to use another team in order to confirm the fact that a driver is capable, it's very useful. We have this capacity in terms of what we are doing in terms of engine supply.
"Our plans for the next few years are very clear with Red Bull and McLaren but that's something we are clearly taking into account as we are building and starting to think about the long-term strategy of our engine supply activity."
Abiteboul stated the young drivers arriving in F1 and engine deals have a strong connection, and he hopes to make use of the two together in the coming years: "We know that looking at Mercedes, looking at a number of teams in the past," he said.
"That will also happen to us at some point in time. We cannot disconnect the two. Right now we have a legacy for when we were only an engine supplier in the relationship with Red Bull but as we build the next cycle of the strategy for engine supply activity we need to take that on board."
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Barron
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Yes but they can apply leverage via the PU modes & software as do Mercedes and I presume, Ferrari. There’s far too much clash of interest in F1 now. It’s bonkers.