Ferrari will effectively determine the identity of Red Bull Racing’s engine supplier for 2007, according to team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.
The Milton Keynes-based squad is reportedly keen to exchange its current supplier for Renault power plants next year, but is bound to the terms of a continuing Ferrari contract.
Austrian billionaire Mateschitz, owner of Red Bull, confirmed talks with the French marque in the newspaper ‘Salzburger Nachrichten’, but suggested that Ferrari is perhaps reluctant to allow Red Bull to simply offload its V8 supply to junior team Toro Rosso.
”We need their decision soon,” Mateschitz, 62, said, ”but it should not be overstated because the new (homologation) rules diminish the importance of the engine in the total package.”
Red Bull’s new driver, Mark Webber, admitted recently that he signed his contract for 2007 without knowing whether Renault or Ferrari would power the ‘RB3’ car.
He revealed: ”It’s going to be one or the other.”
GMMF1
DailyF1News.com
