Red Bull were rumoured to have dropped their alternator supplier at the start of this season following repeated problems in 2011 and 2012 which cost them valuable points, including a race win.
It has now been confirmed that the Milton Keynes based team have indeed dropped Magnetti Marelli in favour of the system used and developed by rival McLaren.
The McLaren Electronic System designed alternator has been installed in the RB9 since the start of 2013 and, as of the fourth race, is yet to suffer any issues.
Speaking to F1Technical, Renault Sport’s technical director Rob White confirmed they were now offering a second supplier [McLaren] alongside Magnetti Marelli.
“We suffered unacceptable recurrent reliability issues with alternators fitted to the RS27-2012 engine that we supply to all our teams,” he said.
“To manage the technical and logistic risks, we have worked with two suppliers for the electro-magnetic components to provide alternator parts to our specifications.”
At present, only Red Bull have opted to switch to the McLaren system, whilst Lotus, Williams and Caterham are still using the Magnetti alternator.
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