Red Bull to end partnership with Renault

Red Bull have made their decision. They will no longer be partnering with Renault for their engines, after the French manufacturer failed to develop a powerful and reliable power unit with the new, 1.6L turbocharged V-6 engine specifications. The decision is likely to cover its junior Team, Toro Rosso as well.

The 2015 season saw Red Bull being frustrated with Renault right from the start of the season, with both Red Bull and its junior, Torro Rosso having used more than the allowed number of parts and incurring a lot of grid penalties. On top of that, the Renault unit is just better than the Honda unit and is far behind the top Ferrari and Mercedes power units.

While initially, both Toro Rosso and Red Bull were under contract to be supplied by Renault till 2016, the contract is terminated. Red Bull have been in discussion with Mercedes and Ferrari to supply them with Engines. Both manufacturers are split amongst themselves on if they should supply or not, given the well-designed machines of Red Bull could easily challenge their factory teams should they get a reliable power unit. While Lewis Hamilton is not in favour, Ferrari have hinted they might be more interested than Mercedes in supplying Red Bull and Toro Rosso. However, it is unclear if they will be giving their full spec engine or maybe a slightly downgraded unit (which, when suggested earlier this season, Red Bull said they would gladly take it given the lack of power with Renault).

As for Renault, they have just two options. Either buy the cash strapped Lotus F1 team and return to F1 as a factory team, or exit F1. Given that they do not want the latter, the decision of buying Lotus is expected according to various sources around the paddock and company that a deal will be announced sometime this month and Renault are not interested in having customer clients from 2016.

The partnership between Red Bull Racing and Renault though, has been one of the most successful in the history of the sport. In 9 years (including 2015), they won 50 races, 4 drivers championships and 4 constructors championships (and also finishing 2 twice).