It’s Ferrari or Bust for Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko has stated that both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso will leave Formula One in 2016 if they cannot secure a competitive engine.

Both teams had contracts to race with Renault power-trains for next season, however both parties have mutually agreed to go their separate ways after a torrid couple of seasons.

‘We have always been a customer, we have always paid for our engines, we never got them for free, and the performance was just not there, So we decided we will split.’ Marko said.

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz told Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper: ‘The separation from our engine partner at the end of the season is by mutual agreement.

‘There was no sense in working together any more.

For Renault, they will either complete a takeover of Lotus and become a manufacturer in their own right or they will leave the sport.

For Red Bull Racing and sister outfit Toro Rosso, they will either source a competitive engine or also leave Formula One.

Their first option was Mercedes, however the Mercedes board rejected the proposal.

With Renault being ditched and Honda in an even worse state that Renault, that leaves a deal with Ferrari or four empty grid positions as there are no other engine suppliers available.

‘The decision is done. If we don’t have a competitive engine we will leave Formula 1, I don’t want to go into details, but what’s clear is we want a competitive engine, because with these regulations you saw at Monza we were two seconds behind. Marko told Sky Sports.

‘As long as you don’t have a power unit which can compete it doesn’t make sense.’ he added.

So what will Ferrari do? Will they take the same stance as German rivals Mercedes? Or will they do a deal that is seen as good for Formula One?

‘We have healthy dialogue with Ferrari and are awaiting feedback.’ Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said after the Singapore Grand Prix.

‘The onus is really on the powers that be to come up with a solution or risk losing not only Red Bull, but also Toro Rosso as well, There is a chance [of Red Bull leaving], how big that chance is doesn’t depend on us, it depends on others. It is a Ferrari engine or nothing. Mercedes won’t supply us and there is no other option.’