Red Bull Finally Confirms An Engine Contract For The 2016 F1 Season

After plenty of searching, it seems as if Red Bull finally found an engine for the 2016 Formula One season. Team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports F1 the team will be on the grid next year "unless something extremely untoward happens."

Horner said the team signed its engine contract and entered the championship, but could not reveal "what it'll be or called at the moment." The team had chances with both Volkswagen—whose deal went out the window along with Dieselgate—and most recently, Honda, in addition to reaching out to Mercedes and Ferrari. But according to Sky Sports F1, all signs point to a Renault renewal with the team developing the units itself.

As for not being able to talk about the engine deal at the moment, that's likely due to Red Bull waiting on Renault to take over the Lotus F1 team. Renault announced its plans to purchase Lotus earlier this year, but the deal is currently in a holding pattern due to negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone over payments.

The Red Bull team hasn't been totally supportive of Renault's development in the past, and the team will need to play catch up in preparing for next season after putting together the engine deal this late in the game. But, at least the team will be prepping the engine they're familiar with for 2016.

And as long as Red Bull is on the grid next season, Ecclestone won't be able to carry out his ideas about suing the team.

Photo credit: Andre Penner

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