Red Bull may not Have Upgraded Engines in Canada

For quite a while now, Renault had been planning their engine upgrades for the Canadian Grand Prix, the seventh race of the 2018 season. They supply engines to Red Bull and McLaren while also using them in their own cars.

They have already upgraded their engines, keeping in line with their schedule but now it is understood that Red Bull may not fit their cars with the upgraded engines.

Renault F1 boss, Cyril Abiteboul said, “We’ve a new spec engine. We have yet to confirm the introduction, because the mileage is not the same across all cars, so we will see where and when exactly we will introduce that new spec.”

“I think we have six engines available. That’s (new engines) is the plan, but not sure it’s actually the best to introduce it in all six cars, in particular Red Bull. We need to look into that”, added the Frenchman.

He also revealed the actual gain in performance which the new engine provided. “It is a small gain in power, although we know we won’t be the only one. It is mainly in the internal combustion engine that we can expect more power. This has to be the focus and it will be the focus for all of this year and maybe next year.”

Ricciardo won the Monaco GP despite undergoing a power loss issue and Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner did not want a repeat of the issue. “We’re hoping for a reliable MGU-K. There is a small upgrade coming for Montreal; every bit we need at the moment, so that’s hugely important for us”, said Horner.

The decision seems to come on the back of the number of power units used by the six drivers who are driving Renault-powered cars. Ricciardo and Vandoorne are in line to be awarded penalties if they use a third MGU-K and control electronics respectively.