Franz Tost does not believe his Scuderia AlphaTauri, nor the sister Red Bull Racing team, would receive a competitive engine package should they reunite with Renault.
AlphaTauri and Red Bull are heading into their final year partnering with current engine manufacturer Honda, with the Japanese marque withdrawing their factory support of its Formula 1 project at the end of 2021.
The current ideal for both Red Bull-backed teams is to take over the running of the development of the engine from Honda, but to allow this, Red Bull are requesting an engine freeze to continue into at least 2022. For this to happen, all of the other engine manufacturers need to agree and at this time there is still some doubt that all three will do so.
Should they not be able to continue with the Honda engine, the Red Bull teams will be seeking a new engine manufacturer, but Tost, the Team Principal at AlphaTauri, says a return to Renault would not be beneficial to them nor the Red Bull.
“Renault have a works team. I can hardly imagine we would get a power unit with which we could compete successfully in races,” said Tost to Motorsport-Magazin.com.
“You have to assume Red Bull and [Dietrich] Mateschitz have different demands. They want to compete in the World Championship. They need the appropriate power unit material.”
Talks about an engine freeze are heading to a conclusion, and Tost says those with power within the Mercedes-Benz, Scuderia Ferrari and Renault are playing delaying games that would only hinder Red Bull’s competitive edge.
“This is the usual game of the manufacturers who are in the lead,” said Tost. “Even if they keep saying they agree, basically they don’t agree and they just want to buy time.”
