Mattchu wrote: ↑21 Aug 2024, 19:59
They may have had Infiniti branding all over the car, did that benefit the Renault engine department, not sure! Apparently Infiniti is a combination of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, for me
I`d have had Renault plastered all over the car so there was no mistaking who produced the engine powering the car!
Renault had every chance to buy the same Red Bull sponsorship which Infiniti purchased (or even Aston Martin or Tag Heuer, lol), yet they chose not to.
As you imply, Renault
immediately downplayed the Infiniti branding in 2016 having taken it over from RBR. Infiniti was not very prominent on the Renault Sport F1 team car or uniforms at all (and soon disappeared entirely?!).
As a far cry from prominent purple Infiniti sidepods on the Red Bull, it's almost like Renault did
not back Infiniti 100% as Renault's prestige car brand (could a future Vel Satis luxury Renault hatch have been badged as an Infiniti?).
Were the huge contrasts between the Japanese idea of a luxury car (the Nissan Fuga/Infiniti M) to the French idea of a luxury car (the Renault Vel Satis)
irrecoverable under a unified Nissan-Renault prestige flagship brand?
Then Nissan-Renault COO (and now Stellantis CEO) Tavares even floated the idea of making a separate prestige brand for Renault back in 2012.
https://europe.autonews.com/article/201 ... vares-says
I guess
Alpine is Renault's prestige brand "of sorts" even if it focus solely on sporting and performance cars?
For the sake of comparison the Renault branding is
even smaller on the Alpine-Renault F1 Team than on the Infinti Red Bull Racing-Renault F1 Team!
The current Renault logo is barely visible TBH.
FW17 wrote: ↑22 Aug 2024, 04:41
Charlie Whiting concluded that it was alright.
Honda and Renault should rightly take
100% responsibility for making an uncompetitive literal interpretation of the V8 engine freeze. Given that Ferrari and Mercedes are ruthless to win at any cost, of course they will push engine development to the maximum.