Adrian Newey reckons Mercedes developed it’s V8 engine throughout the off-season, despite a supposed ‘engine-freeze’ which stops teams spending money on upgrading their engine.
Red Bull have also asked the FIA if Renault can upgrade it’s engine to catch up with Mercedes.
“Mercedes developed very heavily through what was meant to be a frozen engine, whereas some of the others, Renault in particular, were very honest and said it’s a frozen engine, it’s cost cutting, we won’t develop further,” he is quoted as saying by the Observer.
Newey, who designed the RB6, which claimed pole in Bahrain thinks it would be “perfect” if Renault is able to “bring the engine up to scratch”.
In 2009, the Renault powered team suffered some reliability issues and were open about switching to Mercedes power, as it was seen as the strongest engine. However, the deal was blocked by current Mercedes customers McLaren and at the time Brawn GP.
“We also looked at the Cosworth engine very carefully. In the end, Brawn and McLaren blocked us from having the Mercedes engine, but we became very satisfied with staying with Renault in any case,” added Newey.
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