MOTORSPORT: Red Bull gives Renault a rocket

Just two weeks after Daniel Ricciardo’s historic victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, the only blemish on Mercedes’ perfect winning record this season, his Red Bull Racing team has publicly slammed its engine partner Renault’s performance this season as “unacceptable” and demanded improvement.

RBR team principal Christian Horner’s outburst against the French company came after Sebastian Vettel’s withdrawal from the revived Austrian GP at what is now called the Red Bull Ring.

It was the third race Vettel, world champion the past four years, has not finished in the new era of hybrid F1 cars.

Meantime, Ricciardo finished eighth after being told not to use his overtake button after Vettel struck an electronics problem on lap two and then withdrew mid-race following contact with Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber, to save his engine.

Horner said “our lack of straight-line speed seemed to really hurt us today” – not a good omen for the next race, the British GP at high-speed Silverstone, on July 6.

“The reliability [of Renault’s power units] is unacceptable. The performance is unacceptable. There needs to be change at Renault,” Horner said.

“It can't continue like this. It's not good for Renault and it's not good for Red Bull.”

However, Horner said Red Bull would not make a sudden switch of engine supplier next season.

“There will not be another engine in the back of the car next year, but we want to be competitive and we want to run at the front,” Horner said.

“Something needs to happen, because whatever’s being done there at the moment isn’t working.

“It’s not our business. It’s not our responsibility. We’re the end user and it’s just frustrating that it’s not where it needs to be at the moment.”

Renault Sport F1’s deputy managing director Rob White said his company knew what had to be done and progress was being made.

“The anxiety that Christian feels, and the frustration he feels after a result that is not at the full potential of the performance of car and power unit, is completely understandable and shared by us,” White said.

“We know what is expected of us and individually and collectively we must buckle down in the right direction.”

Red Bull Racing has less than half the constructors’ championship points of Mercedes – 143 compared with 301 -- after eight races, although it is well ahead of third-placed Ferrari (98).

Ricciardo admits to costly mistake in Austria
Ricciardo was eighth in last night’s Austrian Grand Prix, gaining a place on the last lap while the Mercedes cars were first and second for the sixth time in eight races this season, ahead of the Mercedes-powered Williams cars that started on the front row of the grid.

And Ricciardo’s Red Bull-Renault teammate Vettel did not finish for the third time this year, encountering an electronics problem on lap two and then withdrawing mid-race, after needing new front bodywork following contact with Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber, to save his engine.

Ricciardo admitted that a mistake he made on the opening lap at the Red Bull Ring prevented him finishing better than his fifth-place grid position.

“It’s never nice going backwards on the first lap,” Ricciardo said.

“Off the line it was actually one of my better starts this year, although I think Kevin Magnussen [McLaren-Mercedes] on the inside got a better one.

“I tried to hang around on the outside, which was the wrong thing to do, because you basically lose too much on the exit.

“So I then got swamped on the long straight.

“We already struggle on the long straights as it is, but even more when you get a poor exit.

“So I was frustrated with myself and I will have to look if maybe I could have cut to the inside and done anything better.

“From that point on we tried to push and catch the others, but we just didn’t have that much pace.

“It wasn't until the last bit that we were able to overtake the Force India [of Nico Hulkenberg for eighth place].

“The last lap move put a little smile on my face, but other than that it wasn’t a great race for us – we’ve got a bit of work to do.”

Nico Rosberg, who started third, won his third race of the season, less than two seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had started ninth.

It was the sixth win of Rosberg’s F1 career – one more than his 1982 world champion father Keke – and he now leads Hamilton by 29 points in the world championship.

Young Finn Valterri Bottas was on the podium for the first time after finishing third for the Williams team, ahead of his veteran Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa.

The Williams pair had qualified on the front row of the grid but in the opposite order (it was Massa’s first pole since 2008!), although the team and drivers knew before the start that their Mercedes-powered cars would struggle to match the factory Mercs.

After scoring only five points last season, Williams already has 85 in this year’s constructors’ championship – ahead of its British rival McLaren, sixth on 72, but behind similarly Mercedes-powered Force India, fourth on 87.

Mexican Sergio Perez’s fifth in Austria, from 16th on the grid, and German Nico Hulkenberg’s ninth behind Ricciardo kept Force India ahead of Williams.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso rated his fifth place, 18.5 seconds behind Rosberg, his best race of the season even though he finished higher in four others – including a third in China. His teammate Kimi Raikkonen was 10th in Austria.

Swiss team Sauber has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season, without a point yet and admitting “a huge mistake” in calling in German Adrian Sutil for a pitstop when it intended it to be Mexican Esteban Gutierrez.

Formula One World Championship driver standings after eight of 19 rounds – 1. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 165 points; 2. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 136; 3. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 83; 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari)  79; 5. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull) 60; 6. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 59; 7. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Williams-Mercedes) 55;  8. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Mercedes) 43; 9. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 30; 10. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, McLaren-Mercedes) 29; 11. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 28; 12. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 19; 13. Romain Grosjean (France, Lotus-Renault) 8; 14. Jean-Eric Vergne (France, Toro Rosso-Renault) 8: 15. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Toro Rosso-Renault) 4; 16. Jules Bianchi (France, Marussia-Ferrari) 2.
      
F1 constructors’ championship standings – 1. Mercedes 301 points; 2. Red Bull-Renault     143; 3. Ferrari 98; 4. Force India-Mercedes 87; 5. Williams-Mercedes 85; 6. McLaren-Mercedes 72; 7. Toro Rosso-Renault 12; 8. Lotus-Renault 8; 9. Marussia-Ferrari 2.