Christian Horner has ended months of speculation about Red Bull’s future in Formula 1, with confirmation that they have secured an engine deal for the 2016 season.
Whilst Horner didn’t confirm who will be supplying the power unit, it’s highly likely they will run some form of unbranded Renault engine.
“Next year will be a transitional year,” said the Briton on Friday. “We have an agreement for an engine for next year which we hope will be confirmed within the coming days.
“It will have a development path – ironically of what we were trying to achieve 12 months ago.”
That likely refers to work by Mario Illien, who Red Bull employed earlier this season to aid Renault in developing their V6 and hybrid components, only for the French manufacturer to reject his findings and instead follow its own development path which failed to deliver results.
Renault are now believed to be open to working with Illien and trialling his concepts in a bid to catch up to Mercedes and Ferrari over the winter period.
When pushed on what engine they will use, Horner added: “We’ve entered the world championship, we’ve signed a contract for an engine, but I can’t tell you what it’ll be or called at the moment.
“We’re announcing different partners – and we’ve some great partners to be announced in the week ahead – so yes we’ll be there unless something extremely untoward happens,” he told Sky Sports.
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