"In reality our best chance is with Renault," admits Horner
Thursday 23 April 2015 13:10, UK
Red Bull chief Christian Horner has acknowledged a renewal of vows with Renault remains his team’s best hope of returning to their former glories.
After successfully combining to deliver four successive title doubles, the partnership between team and engine provider has disintegrated in recent months following their wretched start to F1’s current turbo era.
The frustration of both parties has frequently boiled over in public this year, with Red Bull describing Renault as a “bit of a mess” and threatening to quit the sport unless they matched the power provision of Mercedes and Ferrari. To compound the sense of impending divorce, Renault responding in kind by suggesting that they too could walk away from the sport.
However, amid further suggestions that Renault could seek to buy out either Lotus or Toro Rosso, Horner admitted last month that, with Mercedes or Ferrari unlikely to provide his team with engines, and provision from Honda currently unfeasible, Renault’s departure could “force” Red Bull’s exit out of F1.
The marriage may no longer be perfect, but it appears that the penny has dropped that reconciliation is the only viable option - for Red Bull in particular.
“We have a contract with Renault for 2015 and 2016 and it is in Renault’s interest as much as in ours to sort the current issues out as quickly as possible,” Horner told the official F1 website.
“In reality our best chance is with Renault - and vice versa. We have won 50 grands prix and eight world championships together - so sometimes frustration boils over.”
Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of both Red Bull and junior outfit Toro Rosso, intensified the pressure on Renault when he explicitly warned last month that “we’ll only stay in Formula 1 if we have a competitive team, and we need a competitive power unit for that". The billionaire's normal reticence against speaking in public added further resonance to his words.
“Dietrich doesn’t talk publicly very often - but when he does you have to listen,” noted Horner. “What he was conveying was: Renault should do either the job properly or not at all. You can’t be half pregnant.
“Our problems are not short term so there will not be any short-term fixes. We have to take a bit of a pain at the moment. And if that is the foundation for a better future then you’ve got to take the pain.”
