23/06/2014
NEWS STORY
Christian Horner has openly criticised engine supplier Renault, citing the reliability and performance of its power units as "unacceptable"
On a day which saw just one car from the Red Bull stables finish the race at its own track, Horner finally lost patience with the French manufacturer which has been supplying its engines since 2007 (this year only for Toro Rosso) and with which it has won four successive titles.
"The reliability is unacceptable. The performance is unacceptable," he told reporters following the race in which Montreal winner Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth, passing Nico Hulkenberg on the final lap.
"There needs to be change at Renault," he added. "It can't continue like this. It's not good for Renault and it's not good for Red Bull."
Trailing Mercedes by 158 points, the Austrian will clearly be eyeing the progress being made by Williams and Force India, which both use the German manufacturer's power units.
Despite introducing the turbo engine to F1 in 1977, Renault, which was the main driving force behind the introduction of the new rules, threatening to walk away from the sport if they were not introduced, has struggled since the very start of pre-season testing.
"We need to work together as partners," said Horner. "There will not be another engine in the back of the car next year, but we want to be competitive and we want to run at the front. Something needs to happen because whatever's being done there at the moment isn't working. It's not our business, it's not our responsibility. We're the end user and it's just frustrating that it's not where it needs to be at the moment."
With Horner's frustration finally made public, a situation not helped by the fact that team owner Dietrich Mateschitz was present for the race, a number of different options have been talked about in recent weeks including the Austrian team building its own engine. While improvements have been made there is clearly still a long, long way to go.
Chris Balfe