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Horner calls for engine equalisation

Red Bull is currently using the Renault RS27 © Sutton Images

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Red Bull boss Christian Horner has again called for engine power to be equalised, as his team looks almost certain to stick with Renault next year.

Under the current freeze on development engines are not allowed to be tweaked to boost power output. It is widely believed that Mercedes' V8 has a significant advantage over its rivals, but at the end of last season the teams failed to agree on reducing the power of all engines to match the lowest output on the grid.

The Renault engine is understood to have strengths elsewhere, such as fuel efficiency and driveability, but Horner is still pushing for power to be equalised.

"I think if you look at basic studies you would say we are about 3% down on power - which is probably about 30-35bhp," Horner is quoted by Autosport. "That is as much as four tenths per lap, but until you run all the engines in the same conditions on a dyno and do a fair and proper comparison you can never be sure.

"You often hear Ross Brawn talk about weight distribution, or the centre-of-gravity and cooling efficiency so on, and the more power you have the more heat you generate. But you need to look at all the aspects in a collective format."

Horner is concerned that if Red Bull's rivals draw level on chassis design, his team will be at an unfair disadvantage.

"The most important thing moving forward is that chassis will for sure converge, as there is freedom within the regulations, and that is where the engines will become a bigger factor," he said. "The Renault engine is a tidy engine; it is a good engine, as is the Ferrari. But I think horsepower is such an over-riding element that that would come at the top - you would trade any of those aspects for horsepower. In terms of fuel consumption, when you have less horsepower you burn less fuel as you generate less temperature. But if you take more horsepower and you run conservatively, you can end up at the same point, but you've got it for when you need it. It is a key element, absolutely."

He added: "It is getting a bit boring. Through the regulations, there is nothing that specifically deals with engine equality, and that is the problem. I think it is acknowledged that there are differences and there is a format that was agreed last winter to evaluate the engines, which was agreed upon by all the manufacturers, but some of the teams stopped that from happening. We are back to that situation."

Red Bull now looks set to stick with Renault power in 2011 after Mercedes recently made clear that it does not intend to extend its supply beyond McLaren, Force India and its works team.

"In terms of supply, we are very happy with the relationship we have with Renault," Horner said. "They treat us very well, and we have a very good partnership with Renault. Unfortunately the product, due to the homologation, is frozen and therefore you have a performance freeze. Mercedes have made it transparently clear that they will not be supplying any additional teams for next year- so we rely on the FIA and the teams and manufacturers to create a healthy situation. It is not healthy to have a situation where one engine is significantly ahead of the rest."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.