Red Bull got 'recognizable' step from fuel supplier

Red Bull received a "recognizable" gain in performance as a result of switching from Total to ExxonMobil fuels for the 2017 season.

While it uses Renault power units – badged as TAG Heuer – Red Bull opted for a new fuel partnership this year as it secured a deal with former McLaren supplier ExxonMobil. Ahead of the planned introduction of a Renault upgrade in Austria, during an interview with F1.com Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said "ExxonMobil did a great job finding performance" and the fuel supplier has revealed it immediately provided a step forward for the team.

"From the initial going from the previous supplier to us we found a pretty decent gain," David Tsurusaki, ExxonMobil's Global Motorsports Technology Manager, told RACER. "I won't say a percentage but we found a decent gain that was recognizable. The next steps are probably going to be incremental, so we think there's one more incremental step and then you're going to get to fine-tuning it, unless there's a design change in the engine and then you can kind of get a new piece of paper and you can look at it.

"But if you're looking at the engine design today, the go-forward for us is to optimize on the next fuel, which we think we can get something, and then we're going to prepare for another tweak. Then, next year is really a whole other slate that we can look at, because we're going to look at other products and other chemistries."

At the same time as Red Bull switching suppliers, Renault did similar to us BP and Castrol. With different suppliers for the same power unit, Tsurusaki says there is clear competition and he believes ExxonMobil have had the upper hand in the battle so far.

"I think it's viewed as healthy because our guys are competitive too and like most of us we want to win, so we view it as if we beat them then we're better. So our guys from the fuel and lubricant side are saying: 'If we can do a better job that proves we're better than one of our major competitors.'

"It's not just Formula 1, we view that as the whole company views that. If we're better at this and we can beat them at developments then that's the competition. The unfortunate thing is we don't know what it is – people like you could dig it up for us somehow – but we think we're winning the battle.

"Yeah, I think [Renault is a good comparison]. Our personal view and our team's view is we're pushing really hard and we think we're winning."