Red Bull drivers want end to Renault-fuelled crisis

Aug.23 - Two drivers from Red Bull's F1 stable are urging for change.

Both struggling around the long blasts of Spa-Francorchamps with their Renault engine, Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat and Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen make no secret that they would like more power for 2016.

"Personally, I hope that this moment will come to an end as soon as possible," said Russian Kvyat in Belgium.

"It is clear that we want to fight at the front in the near future. I don't know how this can be achieved, but it should be achieved at any cost," he said.

"If something can change, we must do it. We want to win races and to do that it is necessary to take any measures," he insisted.

Kvyat's comments come amid a stalemate between Red Bull and Renault, who are locked together contractually for 2016 but obviously headed in different directions.

In the Red Bull camp, patience has run out and strong rumours are now swirling that the contract with Renault for next year has been unilaterally terminated.

Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko denies that.

"The current situation is that we have a contract and it was not terminated," he insists.

Renault is willing to keep the 2016 contracts alive, but at the same time due diligence is taking place that could see the French carmaker take over Lotus.

Added to that the performance deficits this year, and Red Bull might have a case to argue for termination.

"The agreement is confidential on both sides," team boss Christian Horner said, "but any contract contains obligations on both parties. And this commitment is quite clear," he added.

Toro Rosso's Verstappen let his frustration show at Spa-Francorchamps, where the weaknesses of the Renault engine are laid bare.

Eyes are being cast forward to Sochi in October, when an updated power unit is scheduled to debut.

"If this is a serious step forward, then we have prospects for next year," he is quoted by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

"And if that is not the case, they must return to the drawing board and that means it is probably too late for next season. Then we have a real problem."

Not only that, Verstappen has had more Renault-related reliability problems at Spa, to which the 17-year-old admitted he came close to letting his frustration show.

"The engineers are doing their best and swearing is pointless anyway," he said. "That is not how problems are resolved.

"Do I still have confidence in Renault? Once you lose that, then you really start to go the wrong way. But I do hope that this moment will end."

✅ Check out more posts with related topics: