Red Bull Racing Team principal Christian Horner has admitted that his team are lacking patience with Renault.
After four dominating seasons, winning both the drivers title with Sebastian Vettel and the constructors title between 2010 and 2013, Red Bull have suffered a fall from grace.
The engine regulation change in 2014 turned Mercedes and Ferrari into the power houses of Formula One and Red Bull, a partner of Renault have drifted further and further behind.
Infighting between Red Bull and Renault has been played out in the media, with both sides threatening to quit the sport.
‘Like any competitive team we want performance yesterday, and unfortunately with engines the lead time is a lot longer than with the chassis,’ Horner told the BBC.
‘Patience is something that we are not really good at. We want to have performance as soon as possible.’
Renault themselves also find themselves at a crossroads in regards to the current situation.
It would appear they have three options, continuing the status-quo and working with Red Bull Racing beyond 2016 [if Red Bull want them that is], quitting Formula One or becoming a manufacturer and buying a team like Lotus.
Horner continued: ‘As far as our position is concerned, we have a very clear agreement with Renault, which guarantees us priority status. Any of those scenarios requires having a competitive engine – and doesn’t really matter based on the agreement that we have.’
It is believed that Renault have found some potential improvements during testing, but it might be ‘two or three months’ before it can be incorporated into the race engine.
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