Renualt Apologise to Vettel and Red Bull
By Ian Lockwood
August 24 2009
Renault Apologise after "Black Weekend" for Red Bull in Valencia
Car 14 MARK WEBBER, Finish Position: 9th, Start Position: 9th
"No gains for us today, which is the first time in a long time. The long and short of it was that I wasn't quick enough today - it was a tough race. I've been struggling all weekend and I think I got the result I deserved, which was no points, unfortunately. We were a little bit unlucky around the pit stops with Lewis (Hamilton) coming back out in front, but that's the way it goes. The pit stops weren't great, as I might have been a bit long on positioning - so not the best day for us. But, we will dust ourselves down and move on to Spa."
Car 15 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Finish Position: DNF, Start Position: 4th
"The biggest problem today was the first stop - we weren't able to get fuel in the car, so we had to come in again. We were lucky to make it back for a second stop. The race was lost already at that point but then, a couple of laps on, I had a problem with the engine and I had to retire. It's not good. In terms of the Championship, I will fight until the last breath, but it's not good to have retired when you're hunting and want to get more points than your opponent. You're in a position to do it, but then you don't finish the race."
CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal:
"A bitterly disappointing day. A fuel rig failure on Sebastian's car, followed by an engine failure, which is the second of the weekend, was costly. Unfortunately with Mark, we just weren't quick enough today. He held Jenson (Button) behind him for a long time, but Jenson was too quick and jumped us with a very quick out-lap, unfortunately Mark was not quick enough to hold him behind."
FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support:
"This race ended a nightmare weekend for us. We had two engine failures on Sebastian's car, so it's a black weekend. I can only apologise to Red Bull Racing and Sebastian in particular for this reliability issue and assure them that we will work as hard as possible to ensure it doesn't happen again. But, the end of the season will now be tough on the engine side for Sebastian."
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http://www.patronisef1.com - My solution to F1's 'bore' problem.
It will still be red Bull and Brawn etc.
Quote:Duffer
How often do we refer to Red Bull as Red Bull Renault. How often do you hear Brawn Mercedes?
It will still be red Bull and Brawn etc.
Obviously I don't actually care, but Red Bull Renault just rolls off the tongue and sounds great.
As for the actual issue, one of the cons of going to Merc is no more Lom
http://www.patronisef1.com - My solution to F1's 'bore' problem.
Quote:K1
as a mercedes man from way back i rather like the sound of it....RBM sounds very good to me and i really think that if RB can make the switch it will be an ace for 2010.
It won't be RMB, it will still be RBR ie. Red Bull Racing.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77985
i may be wrong but i was under the impression that the FIA entry was nominated as 'Red Bull Renault' which would, if a change is made, read, "Red Bull Mercedes', would it not?
Quote:LoudHoward
As for the actual issue, one of the cons of going to Merc is no more Lom sad smiley
Yep losing Fabrice Lom is going to suck big time, Fabrice is one of the best and one of my favourite members of the Red Bull Racing team!
That means the top 3 teams this year would be running Merc engines, meaning, thats one less componet (a major one at that) that needs to be worried about, its already benchmarked against other title contending teams.
So if Red Bull get beaten by another Merc supplied team, you can pretty much rule out the engine performance straight away and concentrate on other deficiencies around the car. Benchmarking.
As good as the Renault engine currently is, their commitment to F1 is a bit iffy and their engine budgets, staffing and resources may be the same.
Same goes with their commitment to KERS. Merc got their system up and running, and I have no doubts next year it will be used, despite the posturing of the FOTA teams. McLaren and Ferrari are using it this year. Why not enforce the ban now?
Also, you really have to be disappointed about the Renault engine performance in 2008. For what ever reason they dropped the ball and literally wasted a whole season for Red Bull. To say their was an engine freeze is a bit naive to me in an extremely competitive market. Once again, it wreaks of under funding and staffing and hence, complacency.
Red Bull would do good to short term future proof themselves against that.
One counter thought is that Merc have probably been even hit harder by the GFC than Renault, being at the luxury end of the market, so perhaps their budget will be under greater pressure next year?
The Merc engine seems bullet proof too.
I too will miss Fabrice.
...on Earth, as it is in Queensland
I don't think there was much in it Jock,i think some people made a bigger thing out of it than it really was, Merc built Webber a faulty car it flipped over at high speed, Webber said to Merc WTF you nearly killed me with your faulty car and Merc said sorry, i think it was all good!
i think that any bad blood was mopped up a very long time ago and i believe that norbert[of the expanded waistband[ and mark webber are firm friends.
Renault apologising would be Carlos Gohn or Flav saying something, which of course would be very unlikely.
Before this season I would have worried about going head to head with McLaren while using Merc engines, but the race last week, and also their support for Brawn for the entire season showed that they are very fair. Credit to Mercedes. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be curious to see how the car would perform with a Merc engine, not just for power but torque and drivability. The Brawn drivers seem to love it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:08:27:22:24:56 by _Jono_.