Renault puts pressure on Red Bull again for 2019

The Director General of Renault Sport Racing believes above all that the Austrian team already has all the necessary information to know whether it wishes to continue as a customer team for Losange or become a factory structure with Honda.

Partners since 2007 and quadruple world champions together at the end of the era of naturally aspirated V8s (2010-2013), Renault and Red Bull are bound by a contract which expires at the end of the current campaign.

Since the arrival of his junior team Toro Rosso in the fold of Honda at the end of 2017, the energy drink giant plans to also move its flagship Red Bull Racing into the camp of the Japanese brand. The two sides met officially for the first time in Baku during the last Azerbaijan Grand Prix and plan to do the same in Barcelona this weekend on the sidelines of the European season kick-off.

The four engine manufacturers present in F1 – Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Honda – must communicate to the FIA ​​on Tuesday May 15 the list of teams that they will provide in 2019. If Abiteboul specifies that the federal deadline is flexible, the patience of the French manufacturer will not be infinite.

« Today, we have two teams that will definitely use the Renault engine in 2019: our factory structure Renault Sport Formula One Team and McLaren, he told AUTOhebdo in the Catalan paddock. Red Bull will probably confirm on May 15 that they do not yet have a contract in place with anyone and that they are having discussions with engine manufacturers. The question then arises of the timing of their decision.

The regulations say May 15, after which we have been working together for 12 years so we can be kind. When it comes to project milestones, we can afford two more weeks. But if Red Bull arrives on July 1 or 15 and asks for an engine, we cannot guarantee them. We need to place orders for a number of parts for 2019. The question I get from the technical team, purchasing, is “are we ordering for 2 stables or for 3? », so with or without Red Bull. And today, I am not able to answer them.

I can make the suppliers who need to know the quantities we are committing to for next year wait a little longer depending on the number of stables we are going to motorize, but I will not be able to do that forever. We will have to switch to one of the two scenarios very quickly ».

Some will argue that Renault managed to supply McLaren this season despite an agreement announced in mid-September 2017, but it must be borne in mind that the Woking team received the propellants originally planned for Toro Rosso. As already mentioned in the wake of Baku, the Losange therefore gave Red Bull until May 31 to announce its choice. However, the Milton Keynes team seems determined to wait for the Canadian Grand Prix (June 8-10) and the next expected evolution of the Honda engine in order to decide. The process leaves Abiteboul perplexed because the latter believes that Red Bull's decision goes well beyond the simple engine supply. Consequently, it should not rely solely on the few additional horses possibly brought to Montreal.

« The choice is much more global: does Red Bull want to remain a customer team of Renault with the conditions of parity that are ours because that has always been our operating philosophy or do they want to switch to factory status? with Honda? They have enough information considering its importance. I don't see what a week or two will change in order to intelligently answer this strategic question.

Red Bull must be responsible. I don't understand their procrastination which consists of absolutely wanting to wait for the Canadian Grand Prix to position themselves. Red Bull has no reason to delay its decision as there will be no reveal on the Monday following the race in Montreal. They have all the data. There is no reason to wait any longer than necessary.

They're making Honda go crazy, they're making Renault wait. For our part, we've known them for a long time so we'll explain ourselves but we can't wait forever and I imagine it's the same for Honda ».