Red Bull powered by Volkswagen from 2015?
Red Bull will evaluate the progress made by Renault on its power unit at the time of the Austrian Grand Prix. If it proves insufficient, the Austrian team could turn to its commercial partner Volkswagen.
Since the beginning of the season, Red Bull has fallen behind Mercedes, which seems very difficult to catch up due to a Renault engine that is not fast enough and not reliable enough.
Sebastian Vettel is the primary victim of repeated issues with his power unit, both in races and during testing. For example, he retired at the beginning of the Monaco Grand Prix due to a turbo problem.
The Austrian team could turn to another engine manufacturer.
This is what Helmut Marko, the head of the Red Bull program, suggests between the lines. In Sport Bild, he states that the progress made by Renault will be assessed at the time of the Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, the Austrian Formula 1 manufacturer’s home race. With this Grand Prix marking mid-season, the date could be the one chosen by Red Bull to allocate its resources towards 2015 with another engine supplier.
The Mercedes engine option has been quite clearly ruled out. Helmut Marko explained that he had no guarantee of having the same equipment as the Mercedes AMG F1 team if Red Bull were to use an engine from the German brand.
The same problem arises with Ferrari, which is therefore very likely ruled out.
On its side, Honda signed an exclusivity contract with McLaren until 2016, at which point it would potentially start supplying other clients. If Red Bull did not see sufficient progress, it’s hard to imagine them waiting until 2016 before changing engine suppliers, especially since Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of Red Bull, had stated that he did not want to be just a customer of the Japanese manufacturer.
The Austrian team is therefore looking for a true partnership. However, it turns out that Red Bull already has a commercial partnership with Volkswagen, notably in the WRC.
That is why a partnership with the German giant would be conceivable.
When Helmut Marko indicates that « Volkswagen is already present in other motorsport categories, with engines similar to Formula 1 technology, », this might mean that Red Bull is seeking an alternative solution to its association with Renault in the firm from Wolfsburg.
