Red Bull and Toro Rosso will not use Renault engine upgrades
The two teams powered by Renault's power units, namely Red Bull and Toro Rosso, have decided to forgo the upgrades proposed by the French manufacturer.
This weekend, for the United States Grand Prix at the Austin circuit, Renault decided to use 11 development tokens still available to upgrade their power unit. A decision aimed at improving the performance of the French engine after working on its precarious reliability at the start of the season.
But the two teams powered by the French engine, Red Bull and Toro Rosso, do not want to risk engine change penalties this weekend and have decided to forgo these upgrades, as confirmed by Daniel Ricciardo: « It’s available and we can use it, but it would mean accepting a penalty. We need to know if it’s really worth it. And from what I’ve understood, it’s not. If we start from the back of the grid, I don’t think we can catch up. »
Same sentiment from Toro Rosso, where Carlos Sainz Jr doesn’t seem more convinced: “I don’t think, considering the data they provided us, that it’s worth taking a penalty for this and starting from the back of the grid.”
And it is not planned for the team based in Faenza to benefit from these developments in the last races of the season: « The last four circuits are quite similar to Austin. Not the best tracks for us, as they have long straights, but not the worst either. But we will stay until the end of the year with the old engine specification. »
