Red Bull team principal Christian Horner dismisses the persistent rumours of an early divorce with power unit supplier Renault, branding these as “complete speculation”.
In the wake of poor engine reliability and subpar performances, it is an open secret that the relations between the two partners have grown stale over the past two seasons.
While Renault is yet to make a decision concerning its involvement in F1 – though it is inching closer to return as a works team through a Lotus buyout –, Red Bull is eager to secure its own future in the sport and would have apparently served Viry with a termination of contract.
“We’ve got an agreement with Renault until 2016 and anything other than that is purely speculation at the moment,” said Horner.
“You know we’ve got a contract… and the contents of that contract I’m not going to disclose publicly. There’s obligations on both parties and I’m not going to comment on paddock gossip.”
This did not prevent the Red Bull team principal from renewing the pressure on the French constructor, with Horner saying it must give itself the means to close the gap to rival manufacturers.
“You’ve got to do a root-and-branch review. There’s some very capable people at Renault, but it feels under-resourced.
“You can see the effort and commitment that’s going in from Mercedes and the commitment is obviously coming from Ferrari as well, an enormous amount of resources being committed.
“Obviously for Renault, it’s as big as issue as it is for us, they can’t afford to have negative publicity from an uncompetitive engine.”
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