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Lotus confident Renault won't prioritise Red Bull in 2014

ESPN Staff
February 7, 2013 « 2014 regulations a tsunami compared to ripple of 2009 - Lotus | Political squabbles damaging F1 - Whitmarsh »
Lotus is confident Renault will offer parity in its engine supply © Sutton Images
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Lotus is confident it will receive equal treatment with all the other teams Renault is supplying with engines next year.

In 2014 new regulations will see V6 turbos replace the current V8s and Renault is set to supply four or possibly five teams. The French manufacturer has a 'premiumtechnical co-operation'l with Red Bull, but Lotus technical director James Allison does not believe his team will be at a big disadvantage.

"I think one of the lovely things about Renault is that they are a very even-handed engine supplier," he said. "They will be delighted if all of their teams are fighting tooth and nail for pole position amongst each other and they genuinely don't offer technical preference to one team over another."

Part of the issue for non-works teams is developing a 2014 car around a new engine with limited data rather than having an input on the engine itself, but Allison said Renault is being very accommodating.

"They offer an even-handed approach but they are also extremely conscious of the fact they need to make a car that works well in 2014 and not just an engine that works well in 2014, so they want the whole package to work," he said. "They are very considerate in asking the chassis people what we think is important and then trying to bring that to the engine. We certainly feel like we are giving lots of attention by Renault."

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