F1: Red Bull To Use Ferrari Power in 2016?
By Mark Gero
Nov 1, 2014; Austin, TX, USA; Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne (25) of France during qualifying for the 2014 U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
As the Red Bull F1 saga continues with the Austrian sponsored team dissatisfied with their current Renault engines, rumors are beginning to leak out that the squad will meet the French manufacturer to leave their contract early, instead of keeping it for another year and honoring it.
Both parties will be meeting in Singapore next week, and this should determine what Red Bull and Renault want to do for the future of both units. Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, who really did want both teams to at least honor the contract, now has turned completely around and is willing to negotiate a settlement to give both teams a chance to move on.
Renault, as many have already heard, probably will not continue to be an engine supplier after their disaster with Red Bull, and either will leave the sport, or continue on as a works team, which could very well be to buy out Lotus, who are currently in huge financial problems.
Red Bull meanwhile are down to choosing a new engine supplier which will be most likely confirmed as Ferrari. Already, the team has looked at a Mercedes engine, but the disapproval of some of their team members, including two time world champion Lewis Hamilton, have made the deal fall through.
Another problem which has to be brought up next week is that Red Bull is under contract with not only Renault, but also with the Infiniti car company and the French oil giant Total, both who are fully aligned with the French car maker. If the deal gets cancelled, then Red Bull are rumored to have to pay 100 million dollars just to get out of the contract, let alone lose their main sponsors.
Red Bull team manager Christian Horner already is looking around, very optimistic that Renault will buy out Lotus by the end of the month. But in the back of his mind, the Briton is hoping that it will be official soon.
“Inevitably it’s my job to talk with everybody,” he said. Speaking to Laurence Edmondson of the British site ESPN F1. “So you do you’re necessary due diligence.
“Obviously time is starting to press on now, we’re now into September and everybody needs to know: What are Renault’s plans for the future? I would have thought within the next two weeks we should all know what Renault’s position is.” Horner concluded.
If the deal is to go with Ferrari engines, then the Red Bull side get only the engines as a customer partnership, while the chassis and other items will be manufactured at the Red Bull plant in Milton Keynes, England.
“Red Bull have big names, with Adrian Newey as chief designer, and it is easy to think if you give them the engine they will build a scary chassis, which means they will be really competitive,” Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene told The Guardian Newspaper of England. “My team, my engineers and aerodynamicists know their jobs. For that reason I don’t have a problem and competition is nice when you have a stronger competitor.
“This doesn’t mean tomorrow morning we will give our engines to Red Bull, but I don’t see any problem to give our engine to any other team or be scared of the competition before they start. This is not the right spirit of competition, of what Ferrari represents. We fight with everybody.” He said.
In comparison to 2007, when Red Bull obtained Renault engines and their Junior partner Toro Rosso used Ferrari power, now if this deal goes through, both teams will have Ferrari engines, meaning that the Italian marque will manufacture their power for five formula one teams.