Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul believes the rise of ‘B-teams’ in Formula 1 risks consolidating the position of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
The model was first adopted by Haas when they joined the grid in 2016 as they outsourced as many parts as allowed from Ferrari. Alfa Romeo has also forged a similar relationship with the Italian team with Red Bull and Toro Rosso also following suit.
However, it is coming at the detriment of Renault, McLaren and Williams in particular, with Abiteboul concerned little is being done to address the situation.
“It’s already a challenge for a team like us to compete against that top three teams who have 30 to 40 per cent more resources than us,” he began last Friday in Australia.
“But if they are now capable of combining their resources with other teams, or getting the benefit of synergies within the scope of a budget cap, that’s a problem.
“That’s a problem for at least two other teams in the field and could also be a problem for a new entrant, willing to enter Formula 1 and willing to be competitive.
“It’s maybe that we are now saying ‘OK, we have three top teams and that will be it and anyone joining with have to accept they will not be in a positive to be competitive’.
“I’m not here to complain or moan,” he added. “We know the regulation but obviously we are extremely careful about what’s going to happen in 2021.
“For now, we are not convinced about the safeguards or the containment measures that have been put forward, but we will continue to work with governing bodies to hopefully get to a more satisfying outcome.”
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Mercedes is the only top three team without such a partnership, though the possibility of closer ties with Racing Point was touted when the team was taken over last summer.
“We are currently thinking about how our customer teams will be able to achieve these synergies,” motorsport boss Toto Wolff declared.
And Red Bull team boss Christian Horner defended the model, pointing to the ability to be competitive without having a massive budget.
“I think mainly the benefit is for that of the smaller teams because there wouldn’t be a Haas if that model wasn’t available,” he said.
“I think the affordability of F1 is extremely expensive. Toro Rosso, they’re using an awful lot of components from RB14 and it’s effective for them within the non-listed parts they’re permitted to do.
“They don’t have to have the design resource, the R&D infrastructure – s, therefore,e the cost for them to go racing is affected by that.
“I think that there’s ultimately a sensible offset between needing to be a full-blown constructor team and being able to acquire those non-listed parts.
“So, personally, we don’t have an issue with it, and feel that, for the smaller teams, it’s been demonstrated that it’s cost-effective and works.”