Red Bull racing team threatens to quit F1

The Austrian racing team warned that they are losing interest in F1 and will consider leaving the F1 village at the end of this season after helplessly watching the absolute dominance of the Mercedes racing team since the beginning of the 2014 season.

The Austrian beverage company started participating in F1 since the 2005 season when it bought the Jaguar racing team and renamed it Red Bull Racing. Then, Red Bull continued to buy the Minardi racing team at the end of 2005 to transform it into Toro Rosso, the reserve racing team of Red Bull Racing and started participating in F1 races from the 2006 season. With the ambition to compete with big names like Ferrari and McLaren to dominate the F1 village, Red Bull spared no money to invest systematically in the racing team. Their systematic investment has reaped sweet fruit in the achievement of winning 4 consecutive double world championships from 2010 to 2013.

Holding the world championship crown for 4 years, Red Bull unexpectedly faced fierce competition from the Mercedes racing team, which started to emerge from the 2013 season. The absolute dominance of the German racing team after the F1 village changed its engine type from 2014 made Red Bull powerless in its efforts to compete with its rival. It seemed that after one season, the Austrian racing team could upgrade its car to catch up with Mercedes. However, the recent failure at the opening round of the 2015 season began to discourage Red Bull when witnessing the superiority of the W06 while the Renaul engine proved to be very weak.

The RB11 looked very weak compared to the Mercedes car at the recent Australian GP. Photo: Reuters.

Sports advisor Helmut Marko (who is an extension of Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz) hinted after the race in Australia about the possibility of leaving the F1 game: "As usual, in the upcoming summer break we will sit down to evaluate investment costs and revenue. If we are not satisfied with the situation, Red Bull will consider the possibility of leaving F1 at the end of the year. The most worrying thing is that Dietrich Mateschitz is gradually losing his passion for F1."

It is worth noting that Red Bull signed a deal with tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, committing to stay in F1 until at least the 2020 season. When asked about Red Bull's threat to leave F1, Ecclestone remained calm and said that Mateschitz would not leave just because the Red Bull racing team no longer dominated F1.

"Dietrich is a very passionate sportsman. I don't think he would quit just because his team lost. Dietrich should have retired after he had enough wins rather than after losing," said the F1 boss.

In the recent disappointing race for Red Bull, while Daniil Kvyat broke down before the start and Daniel Ricciardo only finished 6th behind Sauber rookie Felipe Nasr, his RB11 was overtaken by both W06 cars Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) when the race ended.

Red Bull CEO Horner also hinted at F1 losing its competitiveness due to Mercedes' superiority. Photo: Reuters.

After the race, Red Bull's managing director, Christian Horner, criticized the weakness of engine supplier Renault. He called on the FIA ​​to find a way to reduce Mercedes' advantage: "The problem is that the gap between them and the rest is too far. The race is now divided into three groups. I don't think this is good for F1.

"Even though they dominate F1, Red Bull is not satisfied with the current technical regulations. The engine regulations are the wrong solution for F1, even if Renault is leading the way. Great designers like Adrian Newey are powerless against the current regulations. F1 will slowly die if it continues like this," added advisor Helmut Marko.

According to VNE