Horner on Renault: 'They lacked passion for the sport'

The relationship between Renault and Red Bull Racing has been successful in the past, they won four double world championships in a row, but the changes in regulations caused the relationship to break down because Renault couldn't deliver the same results anymore. According to Christian Horner this was because of a lack of passion within the team.

On the High Performance podcast, Red Bull Racing team boss Horner talks about the relationship with Renault. He believes the former Renault president lacked the motivation to improve their results in the sport: "I must have gone to Paris three or four times to sit down with Carlos Ghosn, the chairman at the time, to say: look, if you're in this business, you spend a lot of money, but you should maybe spend just a little bit more, a little bit more wisely, otherwise you're wasting what you're spending now, you're not getting anything in return."

No passion for F1

Horner continued: "But his heart was never in Formula One, it was just a marketing thing that ticked the box. That passion and drive - if he didn't have it, how could you expect it to flow through his organisation? Their current CEO is full of passion and that will drive performance and results because it comes from the top."

Split between Red Bull and Renault

During the 2018 season, Red Bull decided to end their relationship with Renault and switch to engines from Honda. According to the team, it was time to try something different. "We tried every possible tactic to push Renault, to motivate them into a more competitive position, and we were able to win races, we were able to take chances, but we couldn't put together a good campaign. So then we thought 'okay, we have to take a risk, we have to get out of this rut, we have to do something. We're just repeating the same mistake, so let's do something different. Let's go for Honda'," Horner explained.

"Honda was a disaster with McLaren. McLaren had dumped Honda and they walked away from them. Honda was about to leave the sport, but we saw the same passion and desire in them, and on top of that, the resources." So far, the switch to Honda seems to have been a good decision for Red Bull and Max Verstappen is now competing for the championship.