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Red Bull is close to securing a supply of Renault engines for one of its Formula 1 teams next year, Renault boss Flavio Briatore has revealed.
The energy-drink company signed a two-year engine contract with Ferrari for 2006 and 2007 but has been seeking to offload the deal to its ‘B’ outfit, Scuderia Toro Rosso, to allow the main squad to use Renaults next season.
Red Bull Racing sporting director Christian Horner put the case for such a switch at Monza last Friday, saying an all-Italian Toro Rosso-Ferrari partnership would “make sense”, especially with Italian driver Vitantonio Liuzzi also part of the equation.
This scenario requires Ferrari’s agreement and the Maranello team has expressed some reluctance to change the original contract.
However, Briatore confirmed that Renault, which is keen to supply a second team to offset development costs in the new era of homologated engines, is close to signing a deal with the Red Bull parent company in any event.
“We are in negotiations but it’s not done yet – done meaning when you sign the deal,” Briatore told Reuters.
“But we are working to finalise it this week and supply the engine to Red Bull.
“After that it is a decision for [Red Bull owner Dietrich] Mateschitz and [Toro Rosso co-owner] Gerhard [Berger] to decide if it’s Red Bull or Toro Rosso.”
Briatore said Renault would honour the undertaking given to independent teams that they would have access to competitive engines at an affordable price.
“The manufacturers need to support the private teams,” he said.
“So we try to apply this gentleman’s agreement.”

Source = ITV-F1