Red Bull Struggling with Engine because of Fuel: Renault

The Renault F1 team believes that its latest engine upgrade is not being maximised by Red Bull. The French manufacturer says that the Austrian marquee lags behind the works team and McLaren in fuel development.

Renault and McLaren use BP/Castrol fuel and lubricants, while Red Bull uses Exxon/Mobil.

As a result, Renault conducts separate dyno sessions specifically for Red Bull, using Exxon/Mobil products. However it meant that Red Bull less running time compared to the BP/Castrol teams.

Recently, BP/Castrol introduced an upgrade at the Spanish Grand Prix which has benefited Renault and McLaren.

Renault Sport F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul said, “I was secretly hoping that Red Bull would have the pace to win,”.

“They were very, very close to that, but not quite there. “We have more to come, and they could have more to come from the fuel.

“That’s something that’s clear. We can guarantee an equity of performance of what is in our control, which is hardware, which is software.

“Not anything other than that, like fuel, because they elected themselves for strategic and commercial reasons to go for their own partner, which we appreciate, and we support by homologating their product.

“I’m sure Exxon has to ability and capacity to catch up, but they are a bit behind. The installation is also a little bit different. “That’s why there are small discrepancies, and I accept that.”

Abiteboul said that Renault’s new engine did exactly as planned in Canada, and also showed good reliability over the six cars.

“I stopped breathing for a moment when I saw [McLaren’s Fernando] Alonso complaining about his ERS,” he said. “But I understand it was another problem [not a Renault part].

“So it was good, a very interesting introduction of ‘spec B’.

“We see from top speed we’ve been very competitive, we also see a bit of a step from Honda.

“We know exactly what they [Renault’s engines] are providing, and they are providing what we advertised they would a few weeks, if not a few months, ago.”