Renault will respect engine supply regulations after Honda's withdrawal

The departure now confirmed for the end of 2021 from the Honda engine manufacturer surprised the microcosm of F1 yesterday, but quickly raised several burning questions.

The most logical obviously being who will replace the Japanese firm alongside the two teams of the Red Bull clan, Red Bull Racing and Team Alpha Tauri, both linked to Honda since 2019 and 2018 respectively.

So who will the Austrian and Italian teams turn to when the technical regulations will be profoundly changed in 2022, with cars that are significantly different in terms of visual appearance and performance?

For the moment, only Mercedes, which today provides, in addition to the official team, Williams and Racing Point, before the arrival of McLaren, Ferrari, which offers its Power Unit V6 turbo / hybrid at Haas et Alfa Romeo et Renault.

The French team, which will no longer supply McLaren next year, would potentially no longer have customer teams to supply in 2022, but intends to respect the F1 regulations, which indicate in appendix 9 that an engine manufacturer must provide a certain number of teams, if requested by the FIA.

“We know the regulations and we will respect them, thus specifies on this subject Cyril Abiteboul, director of Renault Sport Racing to Reuters. When you participate in a sport, you must accept the obligations associated with it. As far as we are concerned, this is part of the sporting regulations and we will comply with this obligation. »

Remember that Renault supplied Red Bull during the golden period between 2010 and 2013 with four consecutive Drivers – Manufacturers doubles, before experiencing a much more complicated relationship during the hybrid era, leading to a divorce at the end of 2018.

Red Bull and AlphaTauri will be able to count on a new engine block from Honda for 2021, before a new chapter full of uncertainties.