Helmut Marko has told Sky Sports News headquarters that Red Bull’s hierarchy have taken the decision to pull out of F1 at the end of this season if they do not have a competitive engine.
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A lower price and hence less income could have an impact on Maranello’s willingness to add two further teams to its customer base.
When asked by a local television reporter at the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday what he’ll do if Red Bull packs up, Ricciardo said: “To be honest, that is why I started to invest in this go kart team – Ricciardo Karts”.
“At the end of the day it will come down to market forces and market price. You couldn’t put the teams through that any longer”.
He indicated for Red Bull to extricate itself from the deal with Renault, in return title sponsor Infiniti has been released from its contract with the team.
Jordan says a VW engine would not enter F1 until 2018 and Red Bull would use Ferrari power in the interim.
The Red Bull Racing’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz has confirmed the team’s prickly relationship with engine provider Renault will not continue next season by mutual consent, the billionaire told Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten.
“It is a risk and it is a risk that should not be underestimated”.
“Over the last weeks a months, a lot has been said and written about the engines”.
“We would do something else and have the people work on this”, he said.
On the face of it, Red Bull’s patience with Renault in the new power unit era ran out, while the French carmaker got exhausted of the constant sniping about its technology.
In other related news, Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat topped second practice ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.
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Red Bull have been fiercely critical of Renault and are on course to finish only fourth in this season’s championship which will see them lose out on an estimated £13million in prize money.
