Renault Sport F1: The factory team is called Red Bull

The season marks a true turning point in the successful and fruitful relationship between Red Bull and Renault. After four consecutive titles, the Austrian team must endure the domination of another team and the French engine manufacturer by another engine, Mercedes.

Even more, the beginning of the year was dominated by reliability and performance issues with the Viry-Châtillon hybrid unit, particularly during pre-season testing when Red Bull was barely able to run.

The result of these problems was a significant restructuring at Renault: Jean-Michel Jalinier was out and Cyril Abiteboul returned, placed at the head of the project by the leaders of the Milton Keynes team while he was holding the position of director at Caterham.

Even more, Red Bull and Renault have strengthened their ties. C. Abiteboul publicly expresses for the first time the new nature of the relationship between the two companies: Renault has tried in recent years to treat its four clients equally. From Caterham’s point of view, where I worked a year ago, it was great. But for Red Bull, it was counterproductive. From now on, the factory team is called Red Bull, he explains to Auto Motor und Sport. These statements largely align with those made by Christian Horner a few days ago.

Mercedes and Ferrari, as engine manufacturers, benefited, with varying success, from the ability to build the hybrid block while designing their chassis. A situation that Renault seemed to suffer from during private testing, with most difficulties resulting from poor integration of the power unit. Honda, which will arrive in 2015, has already made McLaren its main team, with whom the partnership will be exclusive for the upcoming season.

Abiteboul continued: « Red Bull is a chassis manufacturer, and that is what they want to focus on. Developing an engine is far too complex to be established quickly. However, it’s true that there will be greater integration between Red Bull and Renault. »

Some reports suggest that Red Bull would handle the electronics – which have been a major issue during private testing and at the start of the season – while Renault would still manage the core engine part. In addition to the two companies, Total and Infiniti – the Austrian team’s title sponsor – could help secure funding for such an operation.

We are in a process of assigning roles as efficiently as possible. The question is where Red Bull can best help us. The plan should be decided by October at the latest, concluded the managing director of Renault Sport F1.