SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- After witnessing Max Verstappen suffer another engine failure at the Belgian Grand Prix, Red Bull boss Christian Horner issued a message to Renault: "Get your act together".
Though Daniel Ricciardo scored Red Bull an unlikely podium at the Belgian Grand Prix, it was a bittersweet result for the team after Verstappen stopped after just eight laps with engine trouble. Four of Verstappen's six retirements this season have been mechanical, with the Dutchman claiming after his most recent that he is rivalling McLaren-Honda's Fernando Alonso for bad luck this season.
Horner cut an irritated figure at his post-race media session and he used the opportunity to make it clear Red Bull expects better from its engine partner.
"Renault are quite aware that their reliability and product are not where they should be, and that is their business to sort that out," Horner said. "We are a paying customer. And it is below par, the service that we are seeing now because of reliability issues, failures, we are staring down the barrel of a whole bunch of penalties in Monza. It is not where we should be."
Red Bull's relationship with Renault has gone through turbulent times since the introduction of V6 turbos, with the French manufacturer failing to produce an engine to match Mercedes in every season since 2014. The pair nearly split in 2015, a year punctuated by reliability issues, as Red Bull looked elsewhere for a partner, only to extend its deal when it received no other formal offers.
Horner believes the onus is on Renault to sort out its current situation. When asked if he plans to sit with Renault bosses to discuss his concerns, Horner said: "It is Renault's business. We pay a hell of a lot of money for the engine. And they need to sort it out, it is hurting them as much as it is hurting us. At this level you can't afford the kind of failures we are consistently seeing.
"It's difficult to know what happens in every session, you're a customer team. But reliability across the three teams is pretty dire. Turbo failures with Kvyat, engine failures, engine replacements that we've had to happen on two cars as we've come here. It's not great. It's far from great. It's not the level that an engine supplier that wishes to be competitive in Formula One should be at. They're working hard at it, and hopefully pulling in to place a process to avoid those kind of issues.
"It's enormously frustrating but you got to take a bigger view so you can't get caught up. Here and now it really hurts, and it really hurt Max because it's his home race, massive crowds, huge support, he's in a great position, and his engine has failed on him. That's hugely frustrating for him and of course the support group that he has around him.
"But that needs to change. But unfortunately as a team that's something that's beyond... it's an element that we don't control. It's beyond our control. So all we can do is put pressure on our supplier, like any supplier, to say 'come on, get your act together!'."