Cyril Abiteboul: “We will be able to concentrate on ourselves”

The announcement had the merit of not being made at the last minute. McLaren et Renault recently confirmed that the partnership established last year for three years between Woking and Viry-Chatillon for the supply of V6 turbo / hybrid Power Units, would not go beyond 2020, with McLaren returning to the fold Mercedes from 2021, the year of the long-awaited change in technical regulations.

A formalization which would potentially leave Renault without a customer team for engine supply at this time, after having lost Red Bull and Toro Rosso in recent years, both spent with Honda, Milton Keynes putting an end to a collaboration which took the car to the red bull at the top of the F1 four years in a row between 2010 and 2013.

If the fact of providing several structures makes it possible to benefit from a greater quantity of technical data, this workload requires a significant investment from the engine manufacturer, without being able to concentrate all its forces on a single team. Which should change Renault’s approach.

“This will have an impact on what we could do for 2021, because when we have several customers, and given Renault's way of doing things, we always try to satisfy everyone in order to take into account all the comments regarding the overall package, and so on, to make it one less distraction, indicated Cyril Abiteboul, director of Renault Sport Racing on the F1 site.

We will be able to focus on ourselves. And that's all. From an economic point of view, there is absolutely no impact, because we are more or less selling at a specific cost due to the price cap.

So, frankly, it's nothing. It's always satisfying to see your product used by multiple teams, but in terms of what we need to achieve and accomplish for Renault, it has absolutely no impact. »

While waiting for the end of this joint adventure, McLaren and Renault will resume their clash for 4th place in the Constructors' championship this weekend in Mexico.