Formula 1 News: Renault Say Red Bull Unlikely to Win a Race in 2015 Season

Renault have admitted they’re unlikely to provide a race-winning engine at any stage of the 2015 Formula One season.

With just one race having taken place so far—the Australian Grand Prix, a comfortable one-two for Mercedes—the French manufacturer, who supply both Red Bull and Toro Rosso, already appear resigned to defeat in the Constructors’ Championship.

	Team	Points [2015]
1	Mercedes	43
2	Ferrari	15
3	Sauber	14
4	Williams	12
5	Red Bull	8

Speaking to Autosport, Renault’s F1 managing director, Cyril Abiteboul, said: "A race-winning engine on merit is not something that is going to happen this year, we know that."

Mercedes, Ferrari, Williams and even Sauber outperformed Red Bull in Melbourne, where only Daniel Ricciardo picked up points for the Milton Keynes-based outfit, with Daniil Kvyat failing to start the race.

Red Bull finished a distant second to Mercedes in last year’s Constructors’ Championship, but they look likely to face stronger competition from Ferrari and others in 2015.

	Team	Points [2014]
1	Mercedes	701
2	Red Bull	405
3	Williams	320
4	Ferrari	216
5	McLaren	181

Sebastian Vettel finished third behind Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the season’s opener, while Williams—who will have Valtteri Bottas back in the cockpit in Malaysia this weekend—also look strong enough to outperform Red Bull over the course of the season.

Rumours of discontent in the Red Bull camp have been circulating since suggestions Dietrich Mateschitz—the Austrian billionaire owner of Red Bull—could withdraw the team’s involvement in the sport.

And Renault’s Abiteboul has added fuel to the fire by questioning their partners’ approach to engine development.

"I think it is no secret that Red Bull in particular is very aggressive in their development strategy,” he told Autosport. “They try to get us to apply in the engine world what they apply in the chassis world.”

The Malaysian Grand Prix takes place this weekend, with Red Bull having won three of the last five races at the Sepang International Circuit.