Renault confirm McLaren talks

Although Renault have confirmed that they have held talks with McLaren, Cyril Abiteboul says a deal is unlikely.

Disappointed with Honda’s showing in their third season back in Formula 1, McLaren have been looking elsewhere for a new engine partner.

The Woking team has spoken with Renault but a deal is unlikely given that the French manufacturer already supplies three teams; Renault, Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

“The situation is we have a multi-year contract with Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso,” Renault F1 managing director Abiteboul said.

“So frankly we are open to discussions. I can confirm there have been discussions with McLaren, but right now there is a restriction in the regulation if we wanted to supply more than three teams.

“In addition to that, I don’t think it would be reasonable to believe that we could supply more than three without degrading the level of service, the quality of service, for the other teams.

“We have had discussions and frankly, we have [current] contracts in place. We value the relationship with Red Bull. It is a long-standing relationship and we would like to carry this relationship until 2020, but if there is something to be done [elsewhere], why not?

“But right now I understand things are very quiet and they are not necessarily pushing for anything.”