Renault F1 have effectively sacked the President of Renault F1 Sport, the blame? Its all down to the poor performance of the latest generation F1 engine technology. For 2014 V10 powerplants were banned and replaced with 1.6-litre V6 turbo-hybrids.
Renault, with knowledge from its road car division, should have led the charge for producing the most powerful small capacity engine on the grid, but it didn’t’. Mercedes did their home work much better and currently have the most powerful engine, in comparison its estimated that Renault’s is between 60-80 bhp down on power with Ferrari not to far behind.
Team bosses who are customers of Renault have been openly critical, notably last years runaway winners of the championship Red Bull Racing. Team principle Christian Horner has been the most vocal of all Renault’s customers, a rare breach of peace in a sport that is carefully co-ordinated and highly managed from a media perspective.
To compound matters even further, this year the teams and engine suppliers/manufacturers are not allowed to change their engines or improve the performance as has been the case for many a season past.
Renault Sport F1 announced that president and managing director Jean-Michel Jalinier has retired, but it is true to say the customer is always right and in F1 the multi-million pounds paying customer is never wrong. Jalinier was sacked no question about it.