Renault believe a fault with their power unit validation process back at their facility in Viry, could be to blame for the recent reliability woes suffered by its customers team Red Bull and Toro Rosso.
According to the French manufacturer, the engines are extremely reliable when tested under controlled conditions at their factory, but they’ve not enjoyed similar success on track.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo is already on his final unit after just five races, before a ten-place grid penalty will be applied. Team-mate Daniil Kvyat and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz aren’t faring much better.
“On the dyno the engines are reliable, but when we come on track they are not,” explained Renault Sport’s managing director, Cyril Abiteboul, to the official Formula 1 website.
“Obviously there is something wrong in our validation process, from dyno to track. There is something we need to investigate. It’s just like aerodynamics, when the wind tunnel is not telling the truth; it’s exactly the same in the engine world.”
Abiteboul is however confident they will get on top of the problem and their partnership with Red Bull will return to the strengths they have previously enjoyed.
“We are living through a tough moment. [But] this marriage has all the reason in the world to last. So we have to do a better job on-track, but we also have to a better job off-track.”
