Max Yamabiko: Allowing Renault to catch up is a 'token' gesture

There haven't been many races this year where Red Bull hasn't made its opinions about the current regulations abundantly clear.

Whilst the power of persuasion isn't necessarily set to succeed in enacting a change - at least as soon as it would like -, Red Bull has been firm and repetitive in its claims that it feels the current regulations have made the sport unfair and are subsequently ruining the spectacle of Grand Prix racing.

Through this, some (many in Red Bull shirts, it must be said) have called for both Honda and Renault to be given the opportunity to catch up Mercedes and Ferrari by being allowed to make wholesale changes to its power units, and indeed Red Bull has even suggested that it could quit F1 if this does not happen since its power unit options beyond Renault are limited to nothing.

Yet, Renault has been given the chance to make headway on its rivals... but hasn't taken full advantage of it. One of the basic ideas behind the F1 power unit rules is to keep costs under control by freezing their design, with only annual updates allowed and those updates governed by a system of 'tokens.'

A mistake in the 2015 FIA Formula 1 technical regulations meant that the power unit re-homologation deadline was left out, and this allowed the three existing power unit suppliers to introduce in season upgrades so long as any power unit used was fully homologated at all times and that the number of update 'tokens' allowed was not exceeded.

Heading into the 2015 season, the power unit suppliers realised that the deadline was missing and knew that in essence this mean that they could continue to develop through the year so instead of spending all of the 32 tokens available all the manufacturers kept some back to spend during the season.

Mercedes spent 25 tokens, Ferrari 22 and Renault the fewest at 20. This left the French firm with 12 tokens unspent, which equates to just over 18% of the complete power unit. In real terms this would allow Renaultsport to change the design of both MGU's, the battery, the V6 cylinder head and the engine block, and still leave a spare token left over for something like a new plenum.

The tokens may have been presented as being implemented to allow relatively minor tweaks, but they actually allow for fairly sweeping changes... and this shows just how much Renault can still revise on its much maligned hybrid power unit

In addition, Renault can also change any part of the power unit for reasons of safety, cost or reliability and with the latter clearly an issue that also allows great scope for updates. Renault has already made it clear that it is focusing its attentions on reliability, which in turn should see it steadily turning the wick up in the coming races

"We needed to eliminate the issues we saw and get reliability under control before we could introduce any new specification parts" Cyril Abiteboul admitted at the Spanish Grand Prix. "We had to limit mileage in some cases until we had all the necessary information, which is never ideal, but sometimes you have to take a short term hit for long term gain."

Is it really a surprise that Renault is behind both Ferrari and Mercedes when it has spent fewer tokens? Ferrari made a great leap forward between 2014 and 2015 by spending its tokens and developing its power unit within the rules. There is no reason why Renault too could not make such a jump.

So with Renault fully able to introduce a substantial amount of performance upgrades to its power unit already you have to question the real motives of those calling for the playing field to be levelled. Perhaps they want to give Renault an unfair advantage once again. After all under the V8 engine freeze Renault which had complained that its engines were at a disadvantage to its rivals was indeed allowed to upgrade the RS27 engine. The result was clear from 2010 - 2013 as the Renault powered Red Bull took four consecutive titles.

For me, it appears clear that Renault is trying to do the same again, albeit seemingly hoping nobody points out the large amount of unspent tokens.

Renault, like all of the power unit makers, will get another 25 tokens (just under 38% of the whole power unit) to spend ahead of the 2016 season. Though this time the FIA has remembered to include the deadline (28th February) in the rules something the already Christian Horner and apparently Renaultsport are arguing about.

"I think the situation is at a precarious point in terms of Renault's commitment to the future," Horner told Crash.net earlier this month. "If you are effectively shutting that down in February [homologation date], you are almost waving goodbye to them so I think they need to have a bit of a grown-up think about it - and the FIA as well - to say what is in the best interests of F1.

"If F1 can afford to lose an engine manufacturer, then stick to 28 February. The engines are effectively frozen for ever after [February] so, if you've missed it by 28 February, the scale of difference is unachievable in that timeframe so really. As these regulations are still relatively immature, it makes sense to allow, as this year, development to happen in-season."

However, Jean Todt has aired his reluctance to tinker with the rules, using examples from history that suggest the playing field often levels in the years after a change of regulations when one team, more often than not, makes a bigger leap. With this in mind, he is convinced Renault will close the gap on its rivals, but Red Bull is seemingly less certain.

Between now and the start of the 28th February 2016 season Renaultsport can change 56% of its power units purely for reasons of performance and can change even more for reasons of reliability.

As such, I get the impression the calls for a level playing field or some sort of equalisation are simply an attempt to tilt the playing field in Renault and Red Bulls favour. However, perhaps the arguments coming from Paris, Milton Keynes and Salzburg would be a bit more convincing if Renault had introduced all of its planned upgrades already...

Max Yamabiko

Max Yamabiko will bring you a closer look at the technical side of F1 and motorsport in 2015, from the latest developments and solutions employed to keep you ahead of the game