Andreas Seidl has “full confidence” that Renault won’t do‘ in when it comes to engine updates despite their midfield battle.
McLaren teamed up with Renault last season, signing the French manufacturer as their engine partner before losing out to them in the Constructors’ Championship.
This year, though, it is McLaren who have come to the fore.
The team has bagged 60 points to date to sit ‘best of the rest’ while Renault are fifth, 21 points behind.
And although there is big money at stake in the championship, McLaren team boss Seidl is confident Renault will continue to give McLaren any and all updates when they become available.
“It definitely looks like that the main battle in the midfield will be between us and Renault,” he told Autosport.
“In the end now it depends on continuously bringing updates, learning about the car, and execution of the races.
“I’ve said already before we have a very good, healthy relationship with Renault. It’s very transparent.
“The step Renault made from last year to this year is also one of the reasons why we could make this step with the car.
“So there is full confidence in the partnership we are having.
“And also purely from the regulation side, there is a clear rule that main team and customers get the same material and power modes.”
He added: “As always, whenever they’ve brought an update, first of all it’s transparent what is happening in terms of timing.
“And as they have done in Barcelona, when we got the first upgrade in terms of reliability, we were both supplied at the same time with the upgrades.
“But obviously sometimes we don’t do it the same time because it depends on the overall planning, and how it fits into the overall season to avoid penalties.”
As for Daniel Ricciardo’s recent suggestion that Renault and McLaren work together to close the gap on F1’s front runners, Seidl insists his team is an independent outfit and will continue to operate as such.
“Our relationship is really purely on the power unit side,” he said.
“As a team we are an independent team and we also want to stay an independent team.”
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