F1 | Abiteboul slows down McLaren: "They will have to adapt to the power unit"

In an interview given to the columns of Sky Sports, Cyril Abiteboul has returned to the partnership with McLaren, underlining how development will be the exclusive responsibility of Renault. The new agreement, in fact, does not include the collaboration of the Woking team as regards the power unit, with the latter having to adapt to the engine and not vice versa. The transalpine engineer wants maximum freedom for the evolution of his power train, not setting particular limits deriving from the requests of a team. If the partnership works, Renault will listen to McLaren's advice, but this will only happen after 2021.

Here are the words of Cyril Abiteboul: “We developed our own power unit before working with McLaren. It won't be the same partnership with Honda as they will have to adapt to the package and not the other way around. We will continue our development and all operating parameters will depend on us. The design with McLaren will come step by step. Being a relatively new partnership, they are unlikely to have a role in the development of the hardware for the next two years."

“We know our unit very well and an external influence could slow down the evolution process. We will obviously be open to their suggestions, but the final decision will be entirely up to us. If the relationship works we will evaluate a broader collaboration, but only after 2021." he concluded.

Roberto Valenti