The power behind Vettel's title

Last Sunday evening Autosport.com published various commemorative features on Formula 1's newly-crowned (and youngest) double world champion, Sebastian Vettel. Since the flag had fallen after 53 gruelling laps of racing at Suzuka, arguably the best circuit on the calendar currently, the 24-year-old German, who finished third to clinch the title with four races to go, had been on a rollercoaster ride, with the entire paddock wanting a part of him. He did not disappoint, dutifully thanking all those who had conspired to make his dream come true (again).

Vettel wrapped up his second title at Suzuka last weekend © sutton-images.com

Among the features was one titled 'Vettel's world title year in pictures,' which in a sequence of 42 photographs perfectly captured his road to the 2011 championship. However, the logo of the real power behind his throne - Renault - is visible in just six of the visuals, so low-key has been the engine supplier's partnership with Red Bull Racing.

By contrast 'Infiniti' appears no less than 14 times, yet the luxury Japanese automobile brand is no more than a commercial partner to the effort - through being a subsidiary of Nissan, which is, in turn, part-owned by Renault.

However, true to his manners and upbringing, Vettel did not forget the crucial role played by Renault, which powered a driver to the world title for the fourth time in seven years (2005,'06, '10 and '11), and looks set to take the constructors' title in partnership with the drinks company-owned team for the second year in succession.

"I think everyone working for Red Bull Racing can be very proud today," Vettel said after the race. "Renault has done a fantastic job; very often they get forgotten. We have had no problems with the engine at all. They were sending a lot of support all the time, pushing very hard in Viry-Chatillon, back in France."

Then he cut straight to the it: "Obviously this year I think it has been more about engines than in any other year, not maybe in a performance perspective as in raw power, but [as in] playing around with engine modes. We had a lot of discussion midway through the season, exhaust blowing etc, and I think Renault has pushed very hard and a lot of our performance is down to them."

Vettel's tribute was typically thoughtful and incisive, and it is remarkable that he did not directly thank Infiniti for its (financial) support despite knowing he was on Japanese soil and was heading for the company's HQ the following day. As far as this racer is concerned, Renault does the business; Infiniti is part of the business plan. An important element? Sure. A crucial one? Nope...

In October in Japan the sun sets at around 1730; 45 minutes after a grand prix with a 1500 start. Thus an hour after the flag the paddock is bathed in a semi-darkness pierced haphazardly by yellowy headlamps as forklifters rush about disassembling the circus in preparation for the haul to Korea. A white shirt-clad figure, a contented smile on his face, avoids the dismantaling job being done after yet another successful Sunday.

You don't see much Renault branding on the Red Bull cars or drivers... © sutton

Deep down, Rob White reflects on that fact that his crew - working in a Parisian suburb - had, in conjunction with an impish German and a British team owned by "just another fizzy drinks company" - as Lewis Hamilton referred to Red Bull when he thought McLaren was invincible - taken on the best Mercedes, Ferrari and Cosworth (White's former employer) could chuck at them, and come up trumps a second time.

That was good enough for the quietly-spoken, introspective Yorkshireman: Shouting from the paddock roof tops as all partied below is not for Renault Sport F1's deputy managing and technical director. However, the 46-year-old mechanical engineer affords himself a touch of inner satisfaction before praising his people. Championships are notoriously difficult to secure; double titles exponentially so. How did he keep his team motivated for a second year?

"I think the most important thing is that we recognise how difficult it is to string together the results that lead to championships, but nevertheless the race wins and championships are in the blood of Renault at Viry-Chatillon, and having won championships in the past, people who know what it feels like want to retrieve those feelings and therefore are certainly motivated to do it again," is the thoughtful answer, albeit one that comes as much from the heart as from the brain.

"Of course, each one is different, each race (win) is different, each championship is different and anything that you've done in the past is sort of incidental, and gives you absolutely no right on anything that'll happen in the future."

The future: today's success is yesterday's news; tomorrow, the next race and season are now White's focus. "Therefore the thing we need to recognise is that all our hopes for the future are built on our results and our success today, therefore the real task is to face forward, to try to learn as much as we can from the results - good and sometimes not so good - that we've had in the past, take advantage of those experiences, put them to our benefit, try to maximise the chances, maximise the probability of doing well in the future.

"Of course, one race after the other, one championship after another, each one becomes more difficult than the one before. Not only do we become more demanding on ourselves, but our competitors become more hungry, become more determined. There's always the realisation that chasing us down is somebody competent and motivated. and we need to keep ahead of them."

Renault's F1 involvement is a story in four parts: in-house, turbo campaign in the 70s/80s; Williams/Benetton years (1990-1997), in-house effort, having bought Benetton; and the current era as a dedicated engine supplier. The company's 2005/6 championships were scored with its own chassis, whereas Renault's current successes depend as much on an Adrian Newey-designed chassis as the RS series engine. What has been the hallmark of Renault's relationship with RBR?

...and yet that of Infiniti is prominent © sutton-images.com

"Since the very beginning we've had a relationship with Red Bull that's been effective; I think as the years have gone by, the confidence has grown," says White, who is based near Renault's factory. "We've been pushed hard by Red Bull, which we see as entirely healthy, and I think over the past two seasons we've seen the fruits of that collective effort.

"We've always had, I think, a culture of fairness, so in the time when we've had more than one team (next season Renault will supply four teams - a third of the grid), more than one competitive team, I believe we've demonstrated good faith and respected our contractual and moral obligations with the different teams. As the Red Bull team has grown in stature, in skill, in performance, I think we've been able to contribute to that, and I think as they've got to know us and we them, we've learnt how to make the relationship between Red Bull Racing and Renault Sport F1 particularly effective."

His team has worked extremely closely with Red Bull's engineers as they have aimed to optimise overall car performance, rather than any individual characteristic. "There are multi-dimensional trade-offs all over the place," White explains, "and the thing we try to optimise is the world championship, then sort of step back from the race result, then step back from the lap time...it's that sort of multi-layered approach, but overall we seek to optimise car performance above any individual aspect of the engine.

As Engine Representative on the Formula 1 Commission, White has needed to balance Renault's needs with those of the sport. How does he feel about the technical restrictions the FIA has imposed on engines?

"Very truthfully, I'm in favour of a rules framework in which a small number of important criteria are fixed, and are the same for all of us. If we take the current technical regulations, which are based on those that were drafted I think for the 2006 championship, the first year of the V8s, then there are a number of dimensions or criteria that are fixed for all of us, and I genuinely believe that's relatively small beer in the grand scheme of engine design and development," he says, before expanding:

"Out of the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of individual design decisions that are made along the way, the small number that are made for [F1] by the rulebook are not a big deal. They do, however, provide a safety net for the sport; they do ensure that engines are sufficiently similar in overall layout. I think it's a good thing for the engine market in F1; I think it's good for the sport. I don't feel it's a thing that should upset even the purists amongst the engine people."

So far, so good, then the engineer takes over: "Maybe more contentious is the engine freeze, or homologation, which I think is now well past its sell-by date, and which probably got a little bit messed up along the way." He does, though, return to the subject later.

Rob White's team has done a sterling job © sutton

Asked about the crucial elements inherent in a double championship-winning engine, White identifies four: "I think you need to assume a certain level of basic competence in every single key property of the engine in the race car.

"The engine is a structural member, so it needs not to be floppy. The engine needs to go racing, so it needs to be reliable, but if we take as a starting point a reasonably well-rounded engine in which there's no particular major weakness in any aspect of its being, then the most performance-sensitive item is its full-throttle power, the mean power in the operating speed range.

"Driveability is particularly important, and the scope to give away lap time by poor driveability is quite immense," he says, clearly proud of the way Renault adapted the RS27 to the vagaries of hot and cold-blown diffusers during the season, before adding, "Fuel consumption is an important parameter" - particularly now that refuelling is banned.

I think the fourth category is everything that relates to its installation in the car, so its heat rejection through oil and water, its robustness in the racing car. It can be hugely penalising for the race team if the operating window for the engine is too small, if the engine is a very fragile thing that once it's outside of its comfort zone starts to lose performance all over the place, or breaks all over the place," he says before returning to the 'freeze':

"I think that's one of the things that has been particularly good in this period of stability, it's an advantage of the system I criticised a moment ago in that we've learnt a great deal about making these engines all the same, repeatable, last for a long time without losing power, tolerate misuse early in their life because we need to be able to use them again.

"These are things that are kind of a little bit invisible, but which have made a massive quality of life improvement to the race teams, whether it's the nuts and bolts, [the] fitting in [of the engine], heat rejection into the oil or water, the size of the oil tank or the weight of the water system."

The $10million question: Can Renault, with its record of 139 wins and 190 poles in 476 starts and nine constructors' championships (with a 10th all but secured) again make it three in a row - having done so in 1995-97 with Benetton/Williams - but this time with a single team?

"We're going to give it our best shot. Clearly the task, once we've delivered any result, is to turn our head to the next one. And even before we deliver a result we're working on the next one. There's a juggling act, of course, in the resource allocation, in the management of our activities, between today, tomorrow and the day after," he concludes quietly, yet deliberately.

Earlier, in the same Suzuka darkness, Niki Lauda ventured that Vettel could even eclipse Michael Schumacher's record of seven titles. Renault Sport F1, led by Rob White, is clearly relishing the challenge of being the power behind him.