Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul has revealed talks with McLaren have taken place about a potential supply in 2018, as the British team is still yet to commit to Honda for next year.
The French manufacturer has become the last alternative to the Japanese manufacturer after Ferrari and former supplier Mercedes rejected the idea of supplying due to concerns McLaren could then out-perform their own works team.
Recently, talks between Toro Rosso and Honda took place which some speculated could open the door to McLaren, however, they ended in disagreement and now, giving more details, Abiteboul admitted a deal is unlikely.
“The situation is we have a multi-year contract with Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso,” he reiterated to reporters at Spa on Friday.
“So frankly we are open to discussions. I can confirm there have been discussions with McLaren, but right now there is a restriction in the regulation if we wanted to supply more than three teams.
“In addition to that, I don’t think it would be reasonable to believe that we could supply more than three without degrading the level of service, the quality of service, for the other teams.”
Currently, engine suppliers are limited to four customers and Abiteboul did admit the idea of supplying a fourth team in the future is not off the table.
“We have had discussions and we have [current] contracts in place,” he said. “We value the relationship with Red Bull. It is a long-standing relationship and we would like to carry this relationship until 2020, but if there is something to be done [elsewhere], why not?
“But right now I understand things are very quiet and they are not necessarily pushing for anything.”
Meanwhile, Honda has acknowledged it fell short in introducing the full ‘Spec 4’ power unit in practice ahead of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
“We didn’t match our schedule,” Head of Honda’s F1 operation Yusuke Hasegawa admitted on Friday. “We’re halfway through our upgrade so we called it 3.5 and 3.6.”
Nevertheless, both Hasegawa and McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown claim there has still been a “step” in progress but the Japanese was cautious in making comparisons between the different specifications.
“It’s difficult to compare the previous engine to this engine because it’s a different circuit,” he said. “From the data point of view, we see a good update of the performance here.”
Finally, driver Stoffel Vandoorne has now seen his penalty count increase to 40 grid positions for his home race after a new gearbox was installed.
“It doesn’t affect my motivation,” said the Belgian about starting at the back. “It’s maybe a shame that it happens in Spa, but it is the way it is. The penalties were inevitable considering all the failures we’ve had at the beginning of the season. It was always going to be like this.
“We need to think about the future. Hopefully, it will help in other Grands Prix.”
