The Red Bull-Renault partnership, one that won 4 tiles from 2010 to 2014 has now grown a little sour.
After 4 years of a title drought and significant performance gap from Mercedes(and Ferrari this year), Red Bull finally decided to end the ‘successful’ partnership with Renault and switch to Honda.
Honda haven’t had the best of times in F1, with McLaren deciding to give up on them and switch to Renault.
However, despite that ‘dark blot’ on Honda’s credibility, Red Bull decided to switch to the Japanese manufacturer as the relationship with Renault had run its course.
And from the story that AMuS are reporting, it seems like the relationship has worsened after Red Bull’s announcement of a new engine supplier from 2019.
Ricciardo wanted a new engine for the German GP, but instead had to settle for a new MGU-K, battery and control unit, as Renault refused to provide Red Bull with a new engine.
When asked why there wasn’t a new engine for Ricciardo, Red Bull said “Ask Renault. They do not want to pull out an engine”.
Cyril Abiteboul was asked to explain the entire incident of Renault not supplying Red Bull with a new engine, to which Abiteboul said that Ricciardo did not need a new engine and hence it was refused.
“There is no need to install a new one. We pursue a clear strategy. There are A, B and C specs this season. Currently we are at the B specification. The engine still has enough reserves in terms of mileage. We are working on having the C specification in Spa. Then there are fresh engines.” Abiteboul said, as quoted by AMuS.
Ricciardo ultimately had to retire from the German GP because of an engine issue.
Were Renault being ignorant as they no longer have a deal with Red Bull from 2019 or did Ricciardo really not need a new engine?
Red Bull are already unhappy with the engine power especially on the straights, where the team is losing out massively to Ferrari and Mercedes
