Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has responded to engine supplier Renault declaring there would be no significant upgrades until 2018.
Instead, managing director Cyril Abiteboul, who also played down Horner’s earlier claims of an upgrade for Montreal or Baku, said the French manufacturer would be focusing on regular, small gains for the remainder of this year.
The news also upset driver Max Verstappen who, after failing to finish in Canada, believes the decision could harm Red Bull’s chances to be competitive next season.
“Well, this is Renault’s decision,” Horner said about the upgrades situation in an interview on the official F1 website. “We take whatever we can when we can – for sure we’d rather sooner than later!
“We knew that Montreal would be tricky and so will be the next two races, Azerbaijan and Austria. We will probably introduce our next engine [from the season’s allotted allocation] in Austria – and hopefully, that will be a bit of a boost as our fuel supplier ExxonMobil did a great job finding performance. In this area, there is quite a bit of potential.”
When asked if he had been surprised by Abiteboul’s announcement, he added: “Nothing surprises me these days. You deal with the hand that you’ve got and we will keep on pushing the best we can.
“As I just said, we are very confident our new partner ExxonMobil will help in performance from that side. The last three races have been promising, so let’s see what Baku holds for us.”
Horner also insisted the actions of Renault would not affect decisions taken by Red Bull in terms of car development as the team look to make up for a disappointing start to 2017.
“You always try in all areas [to improve], he said. “I don’t believe that Renault has given up on this year – that’s what they have told us.
“For us, it doesn’t change anything. We are always pushing hard and it is good to see that the last three races showed good progress.”