Adrian Newey explains the reasons behind Red Bull’s infamous fallout with Renault

Red Bull F1 team won four consecutive titles from 2010-2013 in partnership with Renault.

Adrian Newey explains the reasons behind Red Bull’s infamous fallout with Renault

Adrian Newey (Via IMAGO)

The Red Bull Formula 1 team is ruling over the pinnacle of motor racing, but their previous dominance over the sport came between 2010 and 2013. During that era, Sebastian Vettel was the man at the wheel of the Austrian team’s car, and with their partnership with Renault, they proved unstoppable for four consecutive years.

However, in 2014, their engine partnership came to a brutal end. Under the turbo-hybrid era, the Renault engine was just not able to produce performance as per Red Bull’s liking. Moreover, Christian Horner was so frustrated that he even went on to defame the French brand publicly. A lot was made about the incident back then, and Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer, Adrian Newey, has once again brought the incident into light.

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While discussing the same on Beyond The Grid podcast, Newey said, “We were in this position where Renault hadn’t produced a competitive engine in the turbo hybrid era. You know, that happens first year. Okay, it’s new rules, we all make mistakes. We went to see Carlos Ghosn, the boss of Renault at Champs-Élysées, Christian, Helmut, and myself, to try to put pressure on him to up the budget.”

Adrian Newey further said that they asked if he could invest more. But Ghosn said, “I’m not really into Formula 1. I’m only here because of marketing.” While concluding his statement, he admitted, “It was disheartening. We were stuck with Renault for a long time, and we couldn’t compete properly. It felt like a never-ending struggle.”

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Red Bull has prospered in its partnership with Honda

While Red Bull ended terms with Renault on an ugly note in 2014, it had to wait for a total of seven years to win the F1 World Championship again. During the 2021 season, Red Bull and Honda put their best foot forward to produce a car that was able to take the fight to Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes Formula 1 team.

Mercedes - AMG PETRONAS, W14 - Mercedes, in action against Oracle Red Bull Racing, RB19 - Honda RBPT.
Mercedes – AMG PETRONAS, W14 – Mercedes, in action against Oracle Red Bull Racing, RB19 – Honda RBPT. (Via IMAGO)

While they clinched the title under shady circumstances, Red Bull and Honda did not care about it as their wait for a title ended after a long time. The latter is still in association with the Milton-Keynes-based team but is on its way out as they will partner up with Aston Martin in the upcoming F1 years. At the same time, Red Bull will produce its own engines in a partnership with Ford.

Since the dawn of new regulations last year, no one has been able to take the fight to Red Bull. Max Verstappen has also been cruising at the front end of the grid. Moreover, the team has operated in a league of its own this year, having already won the Constructors’ Championship. Additionally, several pundits tout them to keep dominating the sport at least until 2026.

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