Renault out as engine builder
 

BBC Sport - Renault to stop supplying engines to other F1 teams

Was bound to happen.

I had heard they were thinking of buying Lotus and getting back into a team ownership and competing. I wonder if they are just folding up and going home or going in house only.

About the only good thing about their current engine is is is better than the Honda engine.

Interesting perspective from Renault in that article:

Lotus should be using a Ford Cosworth. Bring 'em back!

So who does Red Bull go with? Ferrari or Mercedes?

Ferrari or bust

They're negotiating with Ferrari, the only remaining choice after members of the Mercedes board nixed doing a deal with Red Bull.

Apparently this year's Red Bull chassis is very effective, so it seems silly for Ferrari to provide them with power units, thereby adding serious competition to Ferrari's own efforts. But hey, what do I know?

Ok... so we are down to Mercedes, Ferrari, and Honda?

I can't wait until they get F1 it down to being nothing more than a parade for Ferrari.
Go Team Bernie!

This is going to be a blinder. Renault is going to buy Lotus, learn all about the Mercedes engine and since they will be out of the championship as an engine supplier, will be able to build a new engine to best the Mercedes and do all the testing they want. They will be back in 2017 or 2018 w/ a killer engine.

This

Eh, no... Renault won't have access to the Mercedes engine's internal when they buy lotus. Those things are sealed... And anyway it's not that they could not copy it, it's that the current rules severely limit how much they can redesign and retest !!! If they had the blueprints they still could not modifying the basic design they started with enough to mimic the mercedes...

Lotus: It's supposedly a done deal in the french press, but there are also noises about getting more $ from Bernie re: historical constructor (which admittedly they deserve) kinda like Ferrari and MacLaren. Renault is not all that flush with cash and they need every penny! And they could wait till Lotus folds, which is imminent, and swoop in and buy it for less. Maybe... Other issues arise as to the validity of the entry vs. Bernie's goodwill, etc...

I don't blame them. They brought the Turbo to F1 (and initially looked bad doing so, till they got it right), that's kinda forgotten. They had glorious years with Williams as motorist, kinda forgotten... Their V10 and V8 was the class of the field for a decade +... Recently, they won 4 WC with Redbull, and unless you are a F1 fan you would never suspect RedBull ran a renault engine... it never was advertised (hell the car promoted Infinity instead!) - which is as much their own fault as RedBull's. Then one bad year (and a follow up bad year due to stupid rules preventing you from testing and upgrading as you'd like), and you look like you are a tool...

I *almost* wish they would pull out and force those silly token rules to fall apart... Better yet, wouldn't it be funny if nobody stepped forward to supply Redbull after the way they treated Renault ? That would be so funny to see
Dietrich throw his toys out of the pram... But yeah, RB is getting Ferrari engines, it's a done deal.

Arrivabene will probably smack Helmut Marko in the mouth first time he complains about power ;-) Pretty gutsy of them to hand their power unit to a team that designs better chassis than them ! Assuming they get the latest spec ;-)

Quick trip in Wikipedia: Last 30 years constructor championship by engine

Renault 12
Ferrari 8
Mercedes 3
Honda 6

# of ad campaigns rubbing this in Ferrari or Mercedes (or BMW's) face, to sell more sedans ? ZERO
Bad marketing on their part for sure...