Red Bull and Renault to part company at end of season

bbability

Press release just out on AutosportTake a look at @autosport's Tweet: https://twitter.com/autosport/status/640608862207348740?s=09

Charlie-Bravo

Cue Lotus swap for Renault engine. Slowly all coming together.

I'm not a fan of Renault, the previous team, their engine or their road cars. But it would be great if they put something together for 2017 that kicked Merc's ass!

Wanderer78

are red bull eyeballing mercedes as a supplier?

frostie500

Team will feel they have no choice but to leave Renault but it makes F1 look even worse when you have every team scrambling for a Merc engine. This has been a crap year for F1 and it's not helped by having a top team struggle as badly as Renault has done but I hate to see the solution being that Merc end up supplying to their works squad, Williams, Red Bull and Force India

flazio

Wanderer78 wrote: »

are red bull eyeballing mercedes as a supplier?

Well who else is there? They'd hardly want Honda engines and it's nigh on impossible for a new supplier to be ready for 2016 at this stage.

Zcott

It's in Red Bull's interests to have a Mercedes engine, and Bernie is all for it because it'll keep RBR in F1 for the foreseeable future. Hamilton disagrees, though...

Charlie-Bravo

What, Hamilton disagreeing?! It would be nice to see him actually fight for a win with a few cars of equal pace as his own.

flazio

Would certainly bring us back to the days of Hill in his Williams fighting off Schumacher in his Bennetton which both had a dominant Renault in their backsides.

Harika

Contrary to what the headline suggests it is not official yet, sources claim that it has been done, but no official confirmation from Renault or Red Bull yet.
I think after Hamilton got his third WDC this year he will be happy to face a bit of competition, cause Nico won't be able to challenge him next year, but might be a good second driver to help him secure WDC 4 against Vettel or Ricciardo.

piperh

It's a shame but not unexpected. It is indicative of the mentality of some teams Renault supplied them with championship winning engine for 4 years up until recently yet 2 below par years means they are suddenly rubbish. Teams want instant and constant success which while understandable is not sustainable in the real world where constant regulation changes and technologies improve.

I personally do not want to see more works engines as that's not what F1 is about it should be different engine suppliers and cars competing to see who can put the best package together.

Myrddin

astrofluff wrote: »

What, Hamilton disagreeing?!

Of course he is, who wouldn't though in the same position? He's hardly going to want stiffer competition given the choice.

It would be nice to see him actually fight for a win with a few cars of equal pace as his own.

Any time Lewis isn't ahead of the field, we always see him fight though. Granted, his car is superior but he definitely pushes & gets the job done on track, which can't always be said for the other Merc.

Frank Bullitt

The Merc board rejected supplying units to RB today, so it looks like its Ferrari. Or else they will be pushing the car.

Charlie-Bravo

Hmm, maybe the board of Merc refused to 'directly' supply the engines but Aston Martin could supply an engine based on the Merc design seeing as Merc part-own them?

Frank Bullitt

astrofluff wrote: »

Hmm, maybe the board of Merc refused to 'directly' supply the engines but Aston Martin could supply an engine based on the Merc design seeing as Merc part-own them?

Highly doubtful. As far as I know its the Daimler board that said no, so not just a no from Merc.

Their only hope would be a Ferrari unit now at this late stage in the year, so 20 16 might be a difficult year for RB.

Zcott

Apparently Manor might be getting the Merc engine, which would certainly be very good for them.

Frank Bullitt

Would Torro Rosso still be Renault powered?

smellslikeshoes

Zcott wrote: »

Apparently Manor might be getting the Merc engine, which would certainly be very good for them.

Even just having the right year engine would be a massive step up for Manor
Might be some sort of cheap engine deal to give Pascal Wehrlein some seat time.

Stoolbend

Gintonious wrote: »

Would Torro Rosso still be Renault powered?

They mentioned on Sky that Torro Rosso would be using a Ferrari power unit.

bbability

Looks like manor are in discussions with Mercrdes. Red Bull are not getting merc engine according to Autosport. Board of Mercedes voted against it. If Honda weren't as poor I'd say they would be supplying a second team but they were 3 seconds a lap slower than the Mercedes at monza. Mercedes and Ferrari are the only ones and the races with decent power units.