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Red Bull's engine complaints are 'bullshit' - Williams

ESPNF1 Staff
September 28, 2010 « Heidfeld confident he will stay in F1 next year | »
Red Bull claim the Renault engine is down on power © Sutton Images
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Williams technical director Sam Michael has scoffed at Red Bull's claim that its Renault engines are significantly down on power.

Red Bull has consistently claimed its Renault V8 is up to 30bhp down on the most powerful engines and revealed that McLaren blocked its move to Mercedes power over the winter. It has also called for the FIA to impose performance parity among the engines in F1, but it is believed Mercedes refused to voluntarily de-tune its engines.

However, Michael has rather bluntly labelled the claims as "bullshit".

"It's simply to gain an advantage," he is quoted by motorsport-total.com. "This [Renault] engine has often been on pole position this year. You cannot tell me it does not have enough power.

"They're just lobbying for an upgrade. That's OK, because it's part of the business. These teams are trying to strengthen their position."

He believes all the engines in F1 at present are separated by "no more than one or two tenths".

It was believed Williams, like Lotus, was considering switching to Renault for 2011, but the British team has now confirmed it is staying with Cosworth.

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