Red Bull Racing might be racing the 2016 Formula One World Championship season with their power-unit, but you won’t hear them mention it.
Red Bull Racing and Renault proved to be the perfect partnership when things were going well.
Four consecutive drivers and constructors doubles were achieved prior to the change to V6 Turbo-Hybrid engines, which Renault played a big part in firstly pushing for and subsequently writing the new regulations for.
But it didn’t work out well, 2014 was a poor season despite three victories and 2015 was worse.
This led to Red Bull Racing trying to strike a deal with either Mercedes, Ferrari or Honda.
But after all three rejected them for varying reasons, Red Bull were forced to repair the broken relationship with Renault.
For 2016, the French manufacturer will supply the team with power-units, but they will be branded under the title sponsor of TAG Heuer.
?It pretty much feels like we ended last season, which isn’t a bad thing.’ Red Bull racer Daniel Ricciardo told motorsport.com after the first day of testing.
It would appear Renault have done very little in terms of development for the new season, perhaps with their priorities on completing the takeover of the former Lotus team and returning to the sport as a fully fledged manufacturer.
Red Bull are hopeful of some development towards the middle of the season and an improved platform to race on in 2016.
‘Obviously there is a big deficit to make up but, with the new procedures and the budget that has gone into it and the way it is working, they are on a good path. I have confidence that they will slowly close the gap.’ Red Bull Racing technical chief Adrian Newey said.
It’s all fairly cordial at the moment. Ignoring the fact that everyone at Red Bull seems to only ever refer to Renault as ‘our engine partner’ or simply ‘they’.
But how long will it last if the team continue to struggle?
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