The complex tangle currently surrounding Red Bull’s engine situation and future in Formula One has reached a crisis level at Sochi, with the pace of negotiations suddenly accelerating during the Russian Grand Prix weekend.
Having repeatedly threatened to leave the sport if they fail to secure a competitive power unit, the energy drinks giant’s senior management bear in mind that they are contracted to F1 until 2020. And it seems that Red Bull cannot legally invoke force majeure to justify any departure since they had a bona-fide deal with Renault through the end of the 2016 campaign.
Should they deliberately throw in the towel, they could face a mammoth penalty of half a billion dollars (£326million), according to renowned journalist Joe Saward. Laying off Milton Keynes’ brainpower and highly qualified personnel would also be quite prejudicial.
In a latest approach to Renault, Red Bull would have offered that the French constructor purely and simply takes over the team and its facilities! Could the transaction take place for a symbolic Euro or perhaps through a sponsorship deal that would allow to save face? Nothing is off the table at this stage, though it is hard to imagine the feuding ex-partners falling back into each other’s arms and hugging it out, particularly in the wake of Red Bull’s very public slating of Renault this year.
Such an outcome would naturally further jeopardise the Lotus F1 Team – yet it would explain why talks with Enstone have been dragging on. Meanwhile, junior squad Toro Rosso would settle for using 2015-spec Ferrari power units, as admitted by team principal Franz Tost.
Whether a potential acquisition of Red Bull by Renault is information or speculation remains as clear as mud, especially with so many rumours swirling around the Sochi paddock this weekend.
F1i technical expert Nicolas Carpentiers takes us through exclusive pictures of Renault's power unit
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