MOTORSPORT: Red Bull and Renault at war

Formula One partners Red Bull Racing and Renault are engaged in open verbal warfare now – and Daniel Ricciardo looks like being the main casualty of it.

Renault's F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul has admitted the company's 1.6-litre turbocharged hybrid power unit won't be good enough to win a grand prix this year.

Australian driver Ricciardo scored three GP victories in his first season with RBR last year, but he finished only sixth – lapped by the mighty Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg – in this season's opening GP in Melbourne on March 15.

The two long straights at Malaysia's Sepang circuit won't suit the Renault unit any better this weekend.

"A race-winning engine on merit is not something that is going to happen this year, we know that," Abiteboul told Autosport.com this week.

"But to win races it is not just the engine but also the car and the drivers."

RBR team principal Christian Horner has accused Renault of making a retrograde step this year with its engine, branding it "undriveable" in Melbourne.

Horner said that, rather than narrowing last year's 60-horsepower advantage of the dominant Mercedes, Renault's F1 program was "obviously in a bit of a mess at the moment".

Ferrari has made a giant stride with its power unit this year, also used by Swiss team Sauber. But in comparison with the Merc engines used by the German company's factory team and Williams, Force India and now Lotus, Renault is said to have fallen 100hp behind with the units it supplies to RBR and its junior team, Scuderia Toro Rosso. Honda is in even worse trouble in its return to F1 with McLaren, perhaps down as much as 200hp – leaving Jenson Button two laps down in Melbourne.

But Renault has hit back at RBR's attacks, accusing it of wanting it to shortcut development – and Renault has also accused RBR's acknowledged technical genius Adrian Newey of lying.

Abiteboul has even posted a picture of a pair of boxing gloves on Twitter.

Newey said after the Melbourne race, where Ricciardo's new Russian teammate Daniil Kyvat's car failed to make it around the formation lap to the grid: "We've got an engine which is quite a long way behind. It's one thing where you're not competitive but you can see your way out of it. It's another when you're not competitive and your partner doesn't seem to be willing to deal with you."

Abiteboul has responded in France's Auto Hebdo magazine. "It's hard to have a partner who lies," he said. "Adrian is a charming man and an engineer without equal, but he has spent his life criticising engine partners.

"We need to work together to understand our issues, both within the power unit and the chassis.

"Our figures have shown that the lap time deficit between Red Bull and Mercedes in Melbourne was equally split between driveability issues, engine performance and chassis performance.

"Red Bull has some chassis problems, which don't help the situation.

"In particular, the lack of rear stability. These two problems combine to ensure the car is difficult to drive.

"It's therefore the overall package that needs some help and we have been working with the team to move forward."

Renault's director of F1 operations, Remi Taffin, trying to cool the tensions between the two sides, said the Malaysian GP, would be a chance to "press the restart button".

"Our design development group has been working non-stop to create counter-measures to improve driveability and reliability and correct the issues we saw in Melbourne," Taffin said.

Abiteboul had told Autosport: "We have been pushing an aggressive and late development program over the [northern] winter.

"What we have done is shortcut and bypass the important steps in engine development. That means some of the stuff you should be doing on the dyno you end up doing on the track.

"That's not really the way forward, but it is good learning for everyone who was pushing for this strategy.

"I think it is no secret that Red Bull in particular is very aggressive in their development strategy. They try to get us to apply in the engine world what they apply in the chassis world.

"We can do a better job on the engine side, but it is not something you can do in one winter."

The BBC's respected chief writer on F1, Andrew Benson, has brought some perspective to the situation.

"The relationship between Red Bull and Renault is clearly at its lowest ebb and it's hard to believe it's only a little over a year since they were celebrating their fourth consecutive title double together [drivers' and constructors' world championships in 2010-2013]," Benson said.

"Both sides have valid points. Renault have been left behind by Mercedes and Ferrari on engine performance. But equally the latest Red Bull seems not to be the team's best-ever product and Adrian Newey does have a history of being dissatisfied with engine partners, whoever they are.

"But it's hard to see the end-game here.

"Renault are scouting around with one eye on buying a team and running one themselves again. "But where would Red Bull go for an engine if not Renault? Mercedes have already said no and Ferrari would probably not be keen either.

"It's not impossible that the threats made after Australia that Red Bull might quit the sport are less empty than initially believed, although they, like all teams, are contracted to F1 until 2020."

The bottom line is that Sebastian Vettel has made a very smart move in quitting RBR, where he was outshone by Ricciardo last year after winning four world titles, and getting himself into a Ferrari, while Ricciardo is left with a car incapable of winning this season – and the two key partners in its construction at war.