F1: Red Bull reverts to old-spec Renault

Red Bull will revert to an old specification Renault Formula 1 engine for this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo ran the updated power unit in Brazil but was not very complimentary about it, suggesting it was not any better than the old unit. Renault insists, however, that the updated spec was faster and performed reliably in Brazil, which allowed it to gather all the information it required to develop over the winter for next year.

After consultation with Red Bull, it was decided that Ricciardo would revert back to the older spec, used until Mexico, for the final race of the year as it is believed to be more suited to Red Bull's car configuration for Abu Dhabi.

As Ricciardo will be running a previously used engine from the French manufacturer's pool of units, there will be no penalty.

Renault had made a request to the FIA to use 11 of its 12 engine development tokens, which was accepted, but only seven were used on the unit in Brazil and these were focused on the internal combustion engine. The remaining four are to focus on the turbocharger, but due to part availability and compatibility with the exhaust system, it was not possible to introduce the update in Brazil.

As the new turbocharger was developed for the latest specification units, it will not be used this weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Originally on Autosport.com