May 24 (GMM) For now, the tension between Red Bull and Renault remains.
The explosive criticism of earlier in 2015 has now subsided, but it was Red Bull wanting to take all the credit on Saturday for a much better qualifying outing in Monaco.
“What we saw was that Red Bull has sorted out our problems with the chassis,” team official Dr Helmut Marko told Speed Week.
“This has nothing to do with Renault,” he insisted. “This is just the car.”
Indeed, on the twisty streets of the Principality, the engine matters less.
“We are a team,” team boss Christian Horner told Spain’s Marca, “so we win and lose together, but everyone can see that our big problem at the moment is the engine.”
Renault recently threatened to pull out of F1 together, or leave the premier Red Bull team stranded perhaps by buying the junior outfit Toro Rosso.
It triggered rumours Red Bull might have to make its own engine.
“We are not engine specialists,” Horner declared in Monaco. “We are chassis specialists and at the moment we are not interested in that (making an engine).”
So for now, Renault and Red Bull – unified by contract until the end of 2016 – are staying together.
When asked about a sale of the team or an alliance with Audi, Horner answered: “Although there is a degree of frustration, we are not thinking of leaving F1.”