By Adam Tate, Associate Editor
Renault announced this weekend that they are set to continue supplying power units for Red Bull Racing through 2018 and return to supplying them for Toro Rosso starting next year.
It completes an extraordinary turn around in the once fraught relationship between Red Bull and the French car manufacturer. Red Bull’s top brass bit the hand that fed them four world championships like petulant children when Renault’s power units failed to initially live up to the high standard set by Mercedes.
A major caveat for Red Bull is that they will still be free to brand the engines they receive how they see fit, which will allow them to continue their lucrative new partnership with famed watch maker Tag-Heuer and allow Toro Rosso to pursue a similar arrangement.
We are delighted to extend our partnership which has proved very successful over time. After the reconstruction that Renault has undertaken, clear progress has been made which has made it logical to continue with the TAG Heuer badged engine. – Christian Horner
It seems that all has been forgiven now that the combination of a Red Bull chassis and a Renault power unit has once again proven to be a winning combination thanks to Max Verstappen’s efforts in Spain. As usual in F1, boon times lead the parties involved to conveniently dismiss any fracas of the past, but Red Bull should be wise enough to learn from them to keep such a precarious situation from arising again.
Image: Red Bull Content Pool
