McLaren: No doubts over Renault F1 support despite midfield rivalry

McLaren is in its second year as a Renault customer, having split with Honda at the end of the 2017 campaign following an acrimonious tie-up with the Japanese brand which began in '15.

McLaren has improved in the first half of 2019 and Renault is attempting to recover from a difficult opening 10 races.

The form book suggests the two teams will go head-to-head to best of the rest behind the main three teams of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

While their partnership could add a political complication to the battle, McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has faith that Renault will not change its support.

"It definitely looks like that the main battle in the midfield will be between us and Renault," explained Seidl.

"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."

While Renault did introduce its latest engine upgrade before McLaren, Seidl says that the timing was down to the choice of his team.

Seidl added that McLaren will be aware of future engine steps and that his team will have the chance to take updates at the same time as the works Renault squad.

"As always, whenever they've brought an update, first of all it's transparent what is happening in terms of timing," explained Seidl.

"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."

Daniel Ricciardo suggested at the British Grand Prix that Renault and McLaren should work together to help combine their car strengths, Seidl has ruled out closer ties between the two teams.

"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."