Breaking news
Formula 1
Red Bull's engine demands "offensive" to Ferrari
Red Bull's demands that it was entitled to land a competitive Formula 1 engine have been labelled as 'offensive' by Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Dec 14, 2015, 8:48 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In the wake of its breakdown in relations with Renault, Red Bull tried to sort out deals with Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda, but was rebuffed each time.
Speaking at Ferrari's traditional pre-Christmas press conference on Monday, Marchionne said Ferrari declined the chance to team up with Red Bull because it felt the team would be too 'dangerous'.
And he also said he was unhappy that the Milton Keynes-based outfit said rivals were duty bound to give it the best engines.
"Red Bull is an incomplete team," said Marchionne. "Because if you have an excellent chassis, but you lack the engine then you are not complete.
"With the power unit you can have a great chassis, but you will not become world champion: you will remain in the garage. So you have to do a deal with a manufacturer.
"But what I find really offensive in this whole affair was the claim that someone had to give them an engine to strengthen what is already a very competitive position for them."
When pushed more on why the talks with Red Bull collapsed, Marchionne said: "The reason that the deal with Red Bull was not successful was that, in light of the recovery that we did in 2015, to give our own power unit to a team that has the technical capabilities of Red Bull would have been dangerous.
"My commitment is to protect Ferrari. The possibility of going to beat Mercedes along with Red Bull, I don't care much for that. What interests me is to win with Ferrari."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Frijns denies turning down Red Bull chance
Next article Analysis: Can Lewis Hamilton ever crack America?
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Ferrari
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
14 h
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Fred Vasseur "not sure" if Red Bull is currently F1's best team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Fred Vasseur "not sure" if Red Bull is currently F1's best team
Latest news
Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
3 h
Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts
Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
7 h
Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict
Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 8 h
Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test
Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
9 h
Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe