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Renault has confirmed that it has held talks with McLaren to supply engines to the team for 2018, although Cyril Abiteboul has admitted that a deal going ahead between the pair is unlikely. McLaren switched to Honda power in 2015, and has suffered three years of consistent disappointment which has promoted the outfit to look elsewhere for an engine supplier.
McLaren has already spoken with Renault, however, a deal is unlikely due to the French manufacturer already supplying engines to itself, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso. Cyril Abiteboul admitted that this is an issue if Renault was willing to supply McLaren with engines in the future.
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“The situation is we have a multi-year contract with Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso,” said Abiteboul. “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," he admitted. “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," he concluded.
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“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," Which service? The service of refusing to do any major upgrades with two thirds of the season still remaining? Meanwhile, look at Mercedes or Ferrari. Mercedes offer real service to their customers by providing them with the best engine of the grid and generally give out upgrades to their customers very shortly after they've had them themselves, and Ferrari are willing to offer them one year deals with year old engines.