14/08/2016
NEWS STORY
At its height, the deteriorating relationship between Red Bull and engine 'partner' Renault in 2015 was like one of those very public, very messy Hollywood divorces.
Hardly a day seemed to pass without the Austrian team launching another stinging public attack on the French manufacturer as it sought a new, more competitive partner.
The four successive titles quickly forgotten, even the three surprise wins of 2014, the forthcoming split was looking to be way beyond acrimonious, the Austrian team threatening to up sticks and walk away from the sport unless it could extricate itself from the relationship and get all that it wanted from a new partner.
A year later, and Christian Horner is paying tribute to the French engine manufacturer whose engines still sit in the back of the Milton Keynes based outfit's cars, albeit badged as Tag-Heuers.
Indeed, the bitterness of 2015 seemingly forgotten (until next time?), Horner credits Renault was being a major factor in halving the gap to Mercedes as the Austrian team leapfrogs Ferrari and sets its sights on the runner-up spot.
"The most significant area is on the engine," he told Autosport, "credit where's credit's due.
"The guys, with the restructuring they put in place at the back end of last year, the philosophy changes made, the developments brought in, the engine has clearly made a step forward," he continued. "We've probably halved the gap to Mercedes, and there seems to be a real direction, and good leadership technically at Viry.
"We've made progress on the chassis, and of course these things have to work in combination, but the biggest element I would say is the step forward in the engine," he admitted.
"The engine we had this year was delivered absolutely on target to what was projected pre-season," he revealed. "If they can do the same again, then hopefully we should really reduce that gap significantly to at least this year's Mercedes, and who knows what they have in the pipeline for next year, but it should be another good step.
"We could never have imagined in a million years what we have achieved in the first half of the year," he admitted, "it's been very positive. It's great motivation for everybody to have got back on the right trajectory. You can feel in the factory there's a real buzz around this.
"Our feeling is we should get stronger in the second half of the year and hopefully we can put up a good fight with Ferrari as we head to the end of the championship. If we can build on what we've achieved in the first half, and if we could beat Ferrari to second place in the constructors', that would be an unbelievable result."