Red Bull will never have loyalty, blasts Renault boss

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul has blasted Red Bull's lack of "loyalty" as the soured relationship between them looks destined to end in 2018. Red Bull have paid a concerted interest in taking Honda power units in 2019, after growing frustrated at their inability to catch Mercedes and Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel won the last nine races of the 2013 season with Red Bull, a record run in F1, but the team has only won that many races since the start of 2014, with Mercedes taking over as the dominant team in the hybrid V6 era.

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The likes of Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko have made their frustrations with Renault clear, and the French marque are still to have fully closed the power gap to the Silver Arrows.

Compounding that frustration is the sight of Ferrari doing exactly that this year, and Horner said recently that Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are still at a disadvantage to their title rivals in 2018.

"Red Bull criticising its engine supplier is nothing new," Abiteboul told El Confidencial.

"We have been with them for 12 years, won eight championships together, and yet Renault is still criticised. We are used to it.

"They will never learn and they will never be able to appreciate the need for loyalty and commitment to a supplier."

Qualifying pace remains a sticking point, Ricciardo has taken Red Bull's sole pole position in the hybrid era, at the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix.

However, the Australian has won six races in that time - that race in Monte Carlo was not even one of them - and Abiteboul was bullish over Renautl's ability to help Red Bull to victory.

"They have the capacity to win races this season," he said. "They did it in Shanghai already and they also would have in Baku if their two drivers had not crashed."