Gunther Steiner has aimed fire at Renault, as so-called 'B teams' come under assault.

With Ferrari allying with Haas and Alfa Romeo, and Red Bull with Toro Rosso, teams like Renault and McLaren think the rules should be changed to make strategic alliances more difficult.

And no wonder. In Bahrain, while Haas split the Red Bulls, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg were just eleventh and seventeenth.

"It's strange that Renault is so far behind, but I don't know exactly why," Kevin Magnussen, delighted to be just five thousandths behind Max Verstappen in qualifying, told BT newspaper.

But it could change in the future.

Rumours suggest that Renault is demanding that the rules for 2021 forbid teams like Haas from simply buying parts like brake air ducts directly from Ferrari.

When asked what impact that would have on Haas, team boss Steiner said: "We would just have to spend more money, and for that we would have to thank your friends at Renault."

He told the French reporter: "Renault belongs to the French people.

"Seriously, we would have to increase the number of people we have. So far I am not worried, I sleep well at night. I think that even if we have to make our own brake ducts, our results would not suffer.

"Just look at where we are in qualifying, and look at where Renault is," Steiner added.