After a turbulent start to the year, Renault Sport F1 faces an uncertain future. In the space of the first two races it has fallen out with its partner Red Bull, been rumoured to be setting a works team and threatened to quit F1. ESPN sat down with its managing director Cyril Abiteboul in Malaysia to sort the truth from the rumours
In the past two decades Renault has powered teams to more Formula One constructors' victories than any of its rivals in the same period. It is also the most successful engine manufacturer of the last five years, winning 47 races between 2010 and 2014 to the 48 of Mercedes and Ferrari combined. Statistically, Renault Sport F1's reputation should be in rude health, but over the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend managing director Cyril Abiteboul admitted his brand is considering leaving Formula One altogether.
The problem is that reputations in Formula One are made and broken each weekend before being re-made or re-broken two weeks later. Success a year ago means nothing if you were not competing for podiums a week ago, and promises of better things to come are only of interest once they have been delivered upon. Renault's reputation, therefore, took a battering last year and the disappointing results of the first two races this year have done nothing to repair it. The poisonous words aimed at the French manufacturer by senior Red Bull staff after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix only tainted Renault's standing further, to the point that Abiteboul felt the need to speak out and defend his company.
"That's part of the sport," Abiteboul told ESPN in the Sepang paddock after the dust settled. "If we were people that were not fed by testosterone, I guess we would be doing something different. That's part of the show, part of the game and part of the management of the whole business, the only thing is that it should not be to the detriment of one brand.
"We are doing Formula One for the benefit of the [Renault] brand from a reputation perspective. It's also about exposure, but it's very much from a reputation perspective and if it is only a bad reputation, it will at some point in time make no sense to do what we are doing. There has been a lot of speculation that has been fed by all of that, but we need to begin to leave that behind and focus on what there is to be done."
So what should be done? Renault has a contract with Red Bull until the end of 2016, but before then it needs a plan in place for its F1 involvement (or lack of it) for 2017 and beyond. At present there appears to be three clear options.
Sticking with Red Bull
The first option is to renew its contract with Red Bull, but Abiteboul has made clear that the relationship needs to change. He is willing to accept that the fallout following Australia was necessary, but only if it leads to new rules in the relationship moving forward.
"We are making progress, but I think we had to go through a crisis to make that progress. I think everyone is now committed to making the relationship progress and to make the most of the time that we have together. We have a contract running until 2016 and there is appetite on both sides to extend, which is good, so it gives also the opportunity to think long-term and therefore to structure our collaboration on a long-term basis.
"I think we are struggling right now with a lack of long-term visibility on the relationship between Renault and Red Bull, so that is why that should be a priority of the next few months - to define what is happening beyond the end of 2016."
When Renault lost Lotus and Caterham as customers over the winter, it gained the freedom to form a partnership with Red Bull that could rival the in-house chassis/engine partnerships that Mercedes and Ferrari enjoy. However, as Abiteboul explained to ESPN in a separate story, there were some areas where Red Bull interfered too much over the winter and in those cases the closer working relationship backfired. If the Red Bull contract is to be renewed, Abiteboul says there must be clear delineation between what Renault's job is and where Red Bull can help.
"We need to really select the topics for which they can make a contribution and support us - and do that fully and completely with them without any sort of hesitation - but then there are some topics where we need to say 'No, sorry, you cannot help. It's not that we do not want you to help, it's just that you cannot help and you are going to do more harm than good'. I think it's about filtering between those two classifications of activities and drawing a line between the two."
The sense from Renault is that a Red Bull relationship can work and it is still the brand's shortest path to future success in F1. But if that path proves too rocky and more toys are thrown from the Red Bull pram along the way, Abiteboul made clear that Renault will not hang around to take the backlash.
"They were frustrated, we were frustrated and there have been some words that, to a degree, were taken outside of their context in the two camps. Let's move on. But indeed, we can win or we can lose, but the one thing we cannot accept is the damage to the reputation of our brand."
F1 without Red Bull
If Renault still likes the idea of F1, but not the idea of being blamed for a lack of success, there is an obvious way out. There are currently ten teams in F1 - set to rise to 11 next year - and only four of them have a works partnership with an engine manufacturer. Given that it is incredibly difficult to achieve success under the V6 turbo regulations without a dedicated engine supplier, Renault's know-how - even if it is not yet quite a match for Mercedes' know-how - is very valuable.
If Renault left Red Bull then Red Bull would have to look for a new manufacturer outside the sport to achieve success in the future, but Renault, as an engine manufacturer itself, has plenty of existing F1 teams to choose from. It's true that both Lotus and Williams have left Renault in the last two years, significantly reducing the number of competitive candidates willing to get involved, but it's also true that there are several teams struggling at the moment and a Renault partnership could help stable the ship or be a way to sell the ship off altogether. A return of the Renault works team is not out of the question.
"Formula One is an extremely free market and given the commercial situation of certain teams, I'm sure that if we have the necessity we would be able to find other customers," Abiteboul said. "It's not what we want, it's not our priority and we would prefer to extend and to further enhance the benefit of our Red Bull relationship, but our future is not 100% tied to Red Bull. Right now it is, but we could restructure what we are doing so that it is not any longer.
"Obviously, if there is an opportunity to be in F1 under a different format then why not? But that format would only be a format where that marketing benefit is higher and we need to balance that against the costs [of being a works team], which would obviously be higher."
Heading for the F1 exit
The third option open to Renault is arguably the easiest, but it would also be the worst outcome for Formula One. If the French manufacturer left it would be a damning critique of the new engine regulations, which were supposed to entice new brands into the sport and not marginalise the existing ones.
"We can stay as we are if it is the right thing to do or we can walk out from Formula One if we think there are better motorsport activities where we should be. We want to stay in motorsports and there is no doubt about that; motorsport is important for the story that Renault wants to tell in the market and that is attractive for Renault.
"We will be aggressive on sports cars on the road, we will be aggressive on the exposure of the brand in the market where Formula One is very relevant, and that is why from our perspective Formula One makes sense. But if we don't manage to do what we want to do and to get out of Formula One what we want to get, there is absolutely no obligation to be in Formula One. There are many great brands that are not in Formula One, like Volkswagen and Audi, and that demonstrates you can be extremely successful without being in Formula One."
If a brand that has had such success over the last 20 years no longer believes it can benefit from F1, what does that say about the sport? Manufacturers have always come and gone from F1, including Renault, but the current grid would look very different without huddles of engineers in yellow shirts. F1 needs to pay a great deal of attention to what Renault does next.