Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Mercedes caused Red Bull/Renault split - Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone claims Red Bull terminated its contract with Renault as a result of instructions from Mercedes.

Red Bull threatened to quit F1 when it couldn't secure a competitive power unit supply deal having moved to cancel its contract with Renault a year early. While Red Bull appears like to repair the relationship with the French engine manufacturer for next season, Ecclestone says Mercedes' originally had agreed to supply the four-time constructors' champions before reneging on the deal.

"Mercedes had agreed to do it," Ecclestone told Motorsport-Magazin.com. "This is why they cancelled their contract with Renault because Mercedes had agreed then they changed their mind. They didn't want competition. Neither Ferrari nor Mercedes want competition from Red Bull."

When it was put to Ecclestone that Niki Lauda claims there has never been an agreement between Red Bull and Mercedes, Ecclestone replied: "Did he say that?

"It's funny he shook hands with the owner of Red Bull. That's the reason they cancelled the other contract because Niki Lauda said to them we can't do a deal with you as long as you have a contract with Renault. So you better cancel it and then we're okay. They cancelled it and then they changed their mind."

When Lauda was asked about Ecclestone's comments, he said the commercial rights holder was not aware of the full extent of the discussions.

“Bernie was not present at the meeting," Lauda said. "The meeting was about Mr Mateschitz’s problems with Mercedes. If he could put away his aversions. It was just loose talkes and he said he could. Afterwards we never got signals from Renault and Red Bull, that’s why definite negotiations never took place.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.