There has been much rejoicing that one of the classic partnerships is back in Formula One with Renault announcing that they will be supplying the Williams F1 team with engines from 2012 onwards.

What hasn’t been discussed is the fear that the Renault board have of both diluting the brand and adding another team to potential embarrass the works team.

Next year Renault will be supplying the Red Bull, Lotus, Renault, Williams, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren-Mercedes, HRT-Mercedes, Force India and Virgin teams with variously different badged engines, as well as every engine in the Mercedes DTM series and supplying all the tyres for everything.

Making new engines for Williams is one step too far, so despite what the headline seems to say, actually Williams are only allowed to use the engines they have left from tier glory days that have been gathering dust in the factory and in one instance being used as a coffee table.

With current regulations deeming these engines illegal it’s definitely a poisoned chalice for Williams and unlikely to bring them back to the top.