Renault Rollercoaster Likely to Continue: Horner

Although Red Bull’s relationship with Renault is approaching the end, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has said that the Red Bull and Renault rollercoaster is likely to continue.

The Milton Keynes team was besieged by numerous reliability issues throughout 2017 and things looked like 2018 may have been much of the same.

The Red Bull and Renault union took place in 2008 and was rewarded with the drivers’ and constructors’ championships between 2010 and 2013. However, despite the fractious relationship, the team is keeping its options open when its existing Renault deal ends.

When McLaren split from Honda to link up with Renault, it opened a door for Red Bull. Mostly to mirror junior team Toro Rosso who have now allied themselves with the Japanese engine manufacturer. But, if Red Bull are serious about a future collaboration, they have until May 15 to make a decision.

“We’ve been on that rollercoaster for about five years,” Horner said. “Sometimes there’s a complete loop the loop in it. So the rollercoaster continues.

“He [Ricciardo] had the energy store failure in Bahrain, he had a turbo failure here, losing him important track time. You get to a point where you think what’s next?”

Ricciardo capitalised on Red Bull’s strategy gamble and sealed an opportunistic victory in last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. However, the entire weekend was not all plain sailing as the Australian nearly started from the back of the grid. This was after he suffered a turbo failure in FP3.

Similarly, in Bahrain, there was a complete electrical shutdown on Ricciardo’s car, forcing him to retire on the second lap. Red Bull reacted by changing the control electronics and energy store elements on his Renault power unit before China.

Ricciardo is out of contract at the end of the year and considering his 2019 options. He said, “It hasn’t been the cleanest start,” he admitted. “Especially after testing, where we had a pretty good winter and thought we were really on top of things. But obviously with Bahrain and then [FP3 in China], it’s a little bit of a shake-up. 

“We’ve just got to try and keep reiterating the importance of reliability and try and overcome all these penalties that we’ll eventually have at some point now.”

Now, the question is, can Red Bull survive the bumpy Renault rollercoaster?