For now the pact between Red Bull and Renault to not continuously slag each other off in public is holding firm, though it appears Renault at present have the upper hand.
Earlier this week, the redoubtable Dr. Helmut Marko told Servus TV that the factory in Milton Keynes needed to “wake up” and that “there are some elements of the chassis not working properly”.
Renault are playing a tag team publicity game between Cyril Abiteboul who is the CEO of Renault Sport F1 and Remi Taffin, their head of operations.
Last week, Abiteboul stepped into the breach to halt the tsunami of abuse created by Horner, Marko et al. The Frenchman accused in the public domain Red Bull’s guru designer – Adrian Newey – of “lies”.
Since then we have seen a retreat by Red Bull and a visible attempt at olive branch offerings.
Renault however are emboldened by their PR successes. Remi Taffin now states publically, “In Sepang it was better from our side, and we got a taste of what to expect from Red Bull-Renault.”
Taffin told French broadcaster Canal. “As for us, the season actually began in Malaysia. By China, Red Bull will have solved their problems, and then the fun begins.
“Of course I am not saying that we will win the race [in China], but we have a lot of potential for development, both on the engine and the chassis side.
“We did not become four times world champion in a row by chance. Red Bull is good at developing a car, and it will pay off sooner or later.”
There is clearly a truce, which has been declared between these two partners. Whether it is a sticking plaster or the basis for a renewed long term assault on F1 world championships will become clear as the mists of time unfold.
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Red Bull are attempting to take over Leeds United football club. When they lose, will they be blaming the manufacturer of the ball for their problems?
RB wouldn’t stoop to such a thing! They’ll appeal to the Football League for a rules change that gives them a goal up before they step onto the pitch… and THEN they’ll blame Mitre when they still lose.
You know I actually thought you were joking about the Leeds bid until I just read it on eurosport.
So if they’re successful, they’ll own clubs in Austria, the U. S and now England.
Germany as well – RB Leipzig
Flexi goal posts, publicly berating the ball manufacturer, and lobbying the rule makers to change the game to their strengths.
In an interview on F1.com I read, that Marko thinks that if Toro Rosso wouldn’t be able to compete as a stand alone team as they rely heavily on RedBull for a lot of there operations, such as simulation work and the parts they can share (gear boxes I believe is one thing, but I’m guessing there are plenty of machined parts that are generic). What I read into it was that even if Renault ‘took over’ STR, they would still need a very advanced relationship with RedBull racing and RedBull Technology to survive in their current state of competitiveness.
Basically saying that Renault can bearly run a bath, let alone a full race team on their own.
Finishing behind both Toro Rosso cars must have really embarrassed Red Bull, and now they can’t use the excuse that the engine wasn’t good enough.