11/09/2017
NEWS STORY
While in no way doubting the claims being made over the weekend, some of the issues raised simply do not make sense.
It is claimed that Carlos Sainz is heading to Renault as a "sweetener" as Toro Rosso seeks to obtain an engine supply deal from Honda for 2018.
Indeed, it is claimed that the Spaniard could be sitting alongside Nico Hulkenberg as early as Malaysia.
Wasn't it just a couple of races ago that Sainz - much like a spoiled child - was being publicly chastised by Helmut Marko and Christian Horner after he said he intended to move on to another team, frustrated at the thought of another season with the Faenza outfit.
In no uncertain terms, Sainz was publicly reminded that he owed his F1 career entirely to Red Bull which had supported him through the ranks and brought him to the F1 grid. The Spaniard, suitably chastened, subsequently admitted the error of his ways.
Yet now, Toro Rosso - by which we mean Red Bull - is willing and ready to give him away to another teams as a sweetener.
A sweetener to obtain an engine that is currently the laughing stock of the grid and one that other teams wouldn't touch with the proverbial bargepole.
Most dictionaries define "sweetener" as "an inducement, typically in the form of money or a concession".
All of which gives further support to our theory that Red Bull is indeed playing the long game. Weary of the ongoing issues with its current engine supplier it is looking for an alternative, and with Mercedes and Ferrari ruled out, the only alternative is Honda.
Should Toro Rosso suffer the sort of season in 2018 that McLaren has endured for the last three years, no doubt there will be further threats and demands. Whereas if the Honda suddenly comes good in the back of the Faenza cars, 'big Sister' will be only too happy to take on the supply for 2019.
Curiously, in all the reports at the weekend, McLaren, which is at the root of all this, is merely a footnote, the Woking outfit gaining a supply of Renault power units as a result of the kindness and self-sacrifice of its rivals.
As we said, we don't doubt the claims, what we don't understand is why it is Toro Rosso (Red Bull) offering the sweeteners and not McLaren, after all, on the face of it, the Woking outfit's needs are greater.
Indeed, if Sainz is in the second Renault before the end of the season, it says more about Red Bull's situation and needs – dare we use the word desperation? - than McLaren's.
What was a story about McLaren - and Fernando Alonso's - future, has now become something entirely different. Indeed, the legendary Woking outfit's bit-part role in all this underlines just how irrelevant the team is rapidly becoming.