Home F1 Red Bull puts down speculations of Abiteboul joining Powertrains division

Red Bull, F1, Cyril Abiteboul — SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - JULY 05: Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team Consultant Dr Helmut Marko and Renault Sport F1 Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul talk on the grid before the Formula One Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on July 05, 2020 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202007050836 // Usage for editorial use only //

Red Bull puts down speculations of Abiteboul joining Powertrains division

18/01/2022

Red Bull Racing has put down speculations regarding Cyril Abiteboul joining its Powertrains division ahead of the 2022 F1 season.

Moving into this week, speculations of Abiteboul joining Red Bull and its Powertrains division started to make noise after the Frenchman confirmed to be present in the team’s garage during the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP weekend, to GPFans.

The murmurs picked up only now about a possible move, but Red Bull has confirmed to FormulaRapida.net that it is not the case when asked about the growing speculations. Since leaving Renault, Abiteboul has laid low for most part of the 2021 season.

He came in the public view when he obliged to the tattoo bet from Daniel Ricciardo from the 2020 season. The bet was honoured after 2021 Qatar GP which was the first time for Abiteboul to be seen on record since the 2020 Abu Dhabi GP weekend.

Looking at his relation with Red Bull, it didn’t end on a good note when Abiteboul was part of Renault who provided engines to the Milton Keynes outfit. The differences were captured by the Netflix camera crew for its Drive to Survive show.

Abiteboul and Christian Horner, though, smiled in front of the cameras, but all was not good behind the scenes as Red Bull eventually decided to not renew their contract with Renault and went ahead with Honda. It eventually led them to win the drivers’ title in 2021.

But with Honda leaving the sport, Red Bull started its Powertrains division bringing the engine department in-house in Milton Keynes. They have made several appointments in the lead-up to 2022, where most have jumped shipped from the UK based teams.

One of their key hiring was Mercedes’ Ben Hodgkinson, who is the Technical Director of the Powertrains division. They are expected to retain some Honda personnel too, with the Japanese manufacturer to continue providing outside support in 2022.

Here’s Red Bull revealing its junior line-up

Here’s FIA on the SC agenda

Here’s Toto Wolff, Christian Horner about mutual respect

Here’s Cyril Abiteboul honouring Daniel Ricciardo’s bet