Red Bull has declared its Formula One season a write-off and urged engine partner Renault to throw caution to the wind and focus more on speed than reliability.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh in the Spanish Grand Prix while Russian Daniil Kvyat was 10th but both were lapped.
The performance gap with Mercedes also appeared to have widened, even if all of the Renault-engined cars finished the race for a change.
“I think it is a positive that we got four engines to the finish without any white smoke, so it’s a step forward from where we have been in previous races,” said team principal Christian Horner.
“Reliability seems to have been a step forward, so the focus desperately needs to turn to performance before too long.”
Horner said Renault knew what the deficit was to Mercedes but was nervous about pushing too hard and compromising reliability.
“I think we are so far on the back foot with reliability anyway that, to be honest with you, this year is pretty much a write-off.
You have just got to go for it, even if you end up using 20 engines,” Horner said.
Source: Reuters