Red Bull Racing – Renault: a win-win partnership

In 2008, Renault will supply the RS27 engine to Red Bull Racing for the second consecutive season. The partnership continues a tradition of engine supply that began in 1983 with Renault’s first customer, Lotus. Since then, five more teams have benefited from the French manufacturer’s expertise: Ligier, Tyrrell, Williams, Benetton and Red Bull Racing. Renault customer engines have taken a total of 80 Grand Prix victories.

“Renault has a tradition of equitable, competitive engine supply,” explains Engine Technical Director Rob White. “We made a commitment to Red Bull Racing to supply identical specification V8’s to those of the works team, and to guarantee a high standard of trackside support. Everything went exactly as planned: we stuck to our commitments, and that is something to be proud of.”

Announced in late 2006, the Red Bull Racing – Renault collaboration made its debut last season. It was a learning year as the new relationship found its feet, but the conclusions were positive – in both technical and human terms. The season’s highpoint came with a podium finish at the Nürburgring.

Rather than a customer-supplier relationship, Renault sought to build a win-win partnership. The team has matured, and this year’s RB4 is the result of more harmonious working methods and processes, which enabled a much-simplified engine installation. The teams know each other well, have learned how to work with each other, and are now completely at ease; this has given rise to bigger ambitions, and more demanding targets.

“The results of our first season working with Red Bull Racing were very positive, and the team was pleased with the engine’s level of performance,” concludes Rob White. “Our trackside team is completely integrated with its chassis counterpart. The working relationship between the two sides should be even better this year, and I think we can be very optimistic about the second year of our partnership.”