Red Bull: We sorted the chassis nothing to do with Renault

Red Bull is not expecting to burst back into podium contention after a stronger Monaco Grand Prix weekend, as they claim full the credit for the surge in performance and deliver another backhanded criticism of their engine supplier Renault.

Just behind the top three in Monte Carlo was the Red Bull duo of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo – a clear step forward for the former champions after a bad start to the season.

“I think we’re back in the right direction,” said engine supplier Renault’s Thierry Salvi on Sunday.

Renault F1 chief Cyril Abiteboul also heaved a sigh of relief and told Kleine Zeitung, “It was not so easy to keep everyone in line with all this criticism. Now we will keep our foot on the gas until we are where we want to be.”

However, Red Bull was not willing to give much of the credit to its engine supplier after Monaco.

“What we saw was that Red Bull has sorted out our problems with the chassis,” said outspoken team official Helmut Marko. “This has nothing to do with Renault.”

Team boss Christian Horner agreed that, despite the good showing on the twisty streets of Monaco, the power factor will resume its big role at forthcoming races.

And when asked by Marca if he expected the good form to carry on, Horner replied, “Unfortunately not. With the rules as they are, the engine is so important to the performance of the car that you cannot compensate only with aerodynamics.”

“We hope to have a good performance in the coming races, but at the end of the day you can’t replace horse power,” added the Red Bull team boss.