Second and third in one of the best races in living memory should be enough to put differences aside, at least for the sport's annual break, but the fact is the relationship between Renault and the Red Bull teams faces a summer of discontent.

Ahead of the weekend, Christian Horner said it would be Sochi in October before he was expecting an update from Renault, and by that time the sweet, welcome taste of yesterday's podium Champagne will have soured.

As Renault ponders whether to leave the sport entirely or get even more involved, possibly buying back the team it sold just a few short years ago, the French manufacturer seemingly getting more negative publicity now than the positive publicity it should have been getting whilst winning as engine supplier and entrant, the breakdown of the marriage is every bit as messy as one reads about in the tabloids.

Renault accuses Red Bull of forgetting the good times - the successes - and putting all the blame on its power units, whilst the Austrian team lashes out, vindictively, threatening to withdraw.

It's the kids you feel sorry for.

The latest rumours have Red Bull courting Mercedes and Toro Rosso turning to Honda, Motorsport.com claiming that Ferrari offered its engines but that they would be a year-old spec. Bottom line, says the German site, Red Bull will walk from the sport away if it cannot get the engines it wants.

Though there are contracts in place for 2016, we know that such things mean nothing in F1, and a shed load of cash would surely ease Renault's pain, the French manufacturer surely keen to get on with life rather than be tied to a partner with whom the spark has clearly long dimmed.

Whilst much of the public vitriol has come from the Red Bull corner, Renault's Cyril Abiteboul is not one to take things lying down.

"You owe us a bit more respect than you are showing us at the moment after what we helped you achieve," he said recently, according to BBC Sport. "We have been in the business of motorsport for more than a century. We have been in F1 in one way or another for more than 37 years. They have been in F1 for maybe a decade maximum."

Whilst team personnel and drivers head to the beach - or study for their driving tests - over the summer break, it would appear that at least the lawyers will be kept busy.

Which, sadly, is ever the case as far as F1 is concerned.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by gormsen, 07/08/2015 9:32

"Cyril Abiteboul is absolutely right - let the engine divorce come as soon as possible and then Horner can get help from his friends Toto Wolff and Nicky Lauda at Mercedes Benz come 2016 "

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2. Posted by testa rossa, 29/07/2015 8:31

"Bye , bye Red Bully"

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3. Posted by petes, 28/07/2015 20:00

"@Hardliner....have you seen comments today from elsewhere?

Buying Lotus....ain't necessarily so, but Enstone yes. Looks an interesting option."

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4. Posted by F One, 28/07/2015 19:10

"Hopefully those cry babies at Red Bull will end up with no engine at all. Who in their right mind would want to supply a team like that?"

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5. Posted by Hardliner, 28/07/2015 7:27

"Renault are going to buy Lotus, period. RBR would be wise to find another power unit"

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6. Posted by Jonno, 28/07/2015 7:01

"Hopefully Renault do take their toys away, either to leave F1 or run their own team. Then we can take great pleasure in watching the Red Bullies begging for a replacement engine. Not that I can see any manufacturer wanting to supply such an ungrateful team. F1 can afford to lose RB, as they've got little, if any fan base that would stop following the sport when they go. Their going would also help to undermine Bernie's hold on the sport."

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7. Posted by Darvi, 28/07/2015 6:46

"Red Bull took all the credit for the years that they dominated - indeed, they often criticised Renault for lack of power back then, even though the engine's power delivery gave them an advantage. I sympathise with Renault and hope that they buy a team and get back to winning ways.

As for Red Bull, they have been out performed at times this year by Torro Rosso using the same engine, yet haven't really fessed up as to why they are off the pace other than to criticise Renault. They need to man up and accept that they can't dominate all the time and that there is work to do on their car."

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8. Posted by CL, 28/07/2015 6:05

""Respect has to be gained and history is just that, history"

You must be joking. How can you gain respect if history isn't taken into account? By that standard, the only teams in F1 deserving of respect are Ferrari and red bull because they were on the podium last time out...except that race is history now, so it's a level playing field and its up to everyone to earn your respect in three weeks time.

Red bull are in a similar situation to McLaren, but I have respect for the way McLaren are handling it, no respect for the way red bull are handling it. I do have respect for the four years of winning and previous years of building a winning team that red bull went through."

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9. Posted by kenji, 28/07/2015 1:02

"respect has to be gained and history is just that, history. renault deserve all that they get. two and a half years they have been at it and they are still massively underpowered. obviously they do not know what to do otherwise they would have been up there with their competitors by now. red bull are the ones suffering a trashed reputation and i fully endorse everything that they say."

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10. Posted by Kkiirmki, 27/07/2015 22:35

"So Red Bull are going to take all the credit for 2nd and 3rd place? Cars don't run very well without an engine."

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11. Posted by Canuck, 27/07/2015 20:21

"I'm afraid that Red Bull is the one that looks bad here, much worse than Renault. Yes the Renault power unit is not yet on par with Mercedes or Ferrari. But it is still ahead of Honda and will be again next year. Renault stayed with them during Red Bull's formative years, they did not criticize the team for not winning. I guess they now feel they should be winning all the time. They have made their mistakes also, but are not willing to give anyone else any margin of error. So please Red Bull - if you can't take the heat -- get out, the sport will be better without cry babies."

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Red Bull and Renault heading for a messy divorce?

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