Following Mercedes’ decision not to supply engines to the Red Bull team, fresh threats of quitting the sport have been released from the Austrian racing team. According to team management, both Red Bull and Toro Rosso will withdraw from Formula One unless they can reach a deal with Ferrari to purchase engines.
Red Bull has had a falling out with their current engine supplier, Renault, in regards to their poor performance in the past seasons and are in desperate search for a new supplier for the 2016 season. Although this would violate the team’s current contract with Renault, they are still planning to make the switch. The team approached Mercedes, but were denied because German engine manufacturer did not want to supply engines to one of their main rivals. All of Red Bull’s hopes now lie with Ferrari, as Honda are not willing to sell their engines yet.
Many fans are becoming increasingly upset about these threats, confused by Red Bull’s apparent lack of sportsmanship. Many of these fans are so enraged that they are lashing out at the team, telling them to just leave the sport. In our anger, have we forgotten about the major negative impact that the departure of Red Bull and their sister team, Toro Rosso, would have on Formula One?
2016 Grid Would Shrink:
If Red Bull and Toro Rosso both packed their bags, we would see 18 cars on the grid. The debut of the Haas F1 Team would mean that we would see two news cars that would take the place of one missing Red Bull team. However, with the crumbling of the Lotus F1 Team, it is possible that there will only be 16 cars on the grid next season. Fans were disappointed when Caterham shrunk the grid after leaving, so taking away more cars would not be good for the sport.
Would Limit Competition:
Both Red Bull and Toro Rosso are very high budget teams. This is a rare breed in a sport that costs so much to compete in. Many of the teams currently on the grid are lacking the funds required to compete against the teams like Ferrari and Mercedes. Despite what Red Bull has been saying, they are still quite competitive with their low performance Renault engine. They scored three podiums and have scored points in nearly every race this season and even managed to cruise to victory three times last season. There are four teams currently capable of winning: Mercedes, Ferrari, Williams and Red Bull. Taking away Red Bull would mean that there would be one less team on the same pace as the leaders, as we cannot expect Haas to be competitive in their first season.
Lotus-Renault Would Fall Through:
With Lotus struggling financially, most people expected Renault to purchase Lotus as a works team. It has been several weeks and a deal has yet to be confirmed. Even Bernie Ecclestone is confused as to why it is taking so long to reach an agreement.
In my opinion, Renault is waiting to see what Red Bull does. The French engine manufacturer currently only supplies Red Bull and Toro Rosso with engines and is in a contract for another season with them. Deep down, Renault knows that no other engine supplier is going to sell Red Bull an engine, so Renault is waiting to see if Red Bull will follow through with their threats to quit or if they will remain with Renault for at least another season. If Red Bull decides to leave, that means that Renault would have no other engines on the grid, meaning they could be worried about financial issues if they purchase a works team.
It isn’t good for a works team to have no customer teams. It means that Renault has fewer engines on the grid to collect data from and test. Since this isn’t the first time that Red Bull has rambled off some hollow threats, Renault is depending on Red Bull to stay with them so that they can purchase a works team. Sadly, all of this means that Lotus’ future in Formula One hangs in the balance.
Potential Austrian Grand Prix Withdraw:
When the Austrian Grand Prix returned to the calendar last season, it was hosted at the Red Bull Ring. The circuit was purchased and redesigned by Red Bull in 2011, meaning that Red Bull holds all of the control over what racing organizations get to race there. Although it might be a bit extreme, it is possible that Red Bull could prevent Formula One from racing there in the seasons to come, depending on how mad the energy drink company is at the sport.
No More Promising Path For Young Drivers:
Toro Rosso was designed for the sole purpose of finding talented young drivers capable of winning championships and then promoting them to the big Red Bull team. Many young drivers have made the transition to Red Bull; drivers like Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvayt and Max Verstappen (who will eventually if the team remains in Formula One).
Sure, there are other ways to advance to the top: you could join a team like Sauber, who have provided the sport with many talented drivers. However, this isn’t as promising because it requires the driver to gain the attention of a bigger team. When you are starting out on a team that is owned by the big team you hope to move to, you already have the attention of the scouts.
Less Seats For Talented Drivers:
This consequence sort of goes along with the loss of a competitive team. By getting rid of a competitive team with a high budget, talented drivers will have fewer seats available to them. As it is right now, a lot of the drivers in the lower ranking teams are either “pay drivers” or young rookies. Once a driver is ready to move on to bigger things, you cannot expect them to hang around in a backmarker team forever. But with fewer teams having the budget to actually pay the salary of talented driver, options are limited. This means that we could see a lot more talented drivers forced to spend the majority of their career in a low performing car or forced to leave Formula One without showing the fans what they were really capable of.
Either way you slice it, there are no positive effects of Red Bull leaving. Personally, I can’t see any engine supplier willing to supply a competitor with their engine, nor can I see any engine supplier wanting to risk being slandered in the way that Red Bull has done with Renault. Hopefully, Red Bull’s threats are just them blowing off steam and will amount to nothing, as their presence is important for the sport. However, even if they stay with Renault for 2016, Red Bull future will most likely be a mystery again the following season, as it would seem highly unlikely that Renault would want to renew a contract with a company that has damaged their reputation as much as Red Bull has.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
