Renault F1: Conspiracy theory circulating of Mercedes helping out Renault after the latter dropped their review appeal against Racing Point.
French team Renault had a fabulous weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. Their drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon looked strong throughout the three days. They capped off the form they carried to finish 4th and 5th respectively, including the fastest lap for Ricciardo. This earned the team valuable 23 points, and brought them closer to McLaren, Racing Point and Ferrari. To put the incredible improvement in perspective, both Ricciardo and Ocon had finished outside the Top 10 in the Spanish GP, the race before Spa.
Conspiracy theory behind Renault’s sudden improvement
This had led to suggestions that Renault had taken help from Mercedes after the Spanish Grand Prix. Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper make this incredible claim, and state their rationale – the Racing Point controversy. According to them, Renault’s rivals Diamler (parent of Mercedes) agreed to help Renault F1 if they agreed to drop their appeal against Racing Point.
“Renault has suddenly improved its engine.”
“It seems that there is a political story behind this based on exchanges of favours involving the Daimler Mercedes group.”
To strength this claim, Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard had informed of their decision to bring back their ‘alliance’ with Mercedes. The Italian newspaper suggests Mercedes agreed to help Renault with power unit-related performance, if they decided to drop their second appeal against Racing Point. This was significant for Mercedes as Racing Point is accused of buying parts of their cars illegally from them.
Read more: FIA gives verdict in favor of Renault; 15 points deducted from Racing Point
If this is indeed true, then Daniel Ricciardo’s recent statement could put things into perspectively. After Spa, he claimed that Renault have “found the sweet spot”. Could the sweet spot be an alliance with the German automobile and F1 giant?
“We found the sweet spot. For me it was the feeling I have with the car. It was like ‘Yes, this is what we need to make the car work’. I don’t think we had a discovery like this last year, so that’s encouraging.”
