Ferrari president Sergio Marchione has admitted that they decided against supplying engines to Red Bull because it would harm their competitiveness.
The Italian giants have not won a championship since 2008 and tussled with Red Bull for four years between 2010-2014.
The Austrian team needed a new supplier this season after a poor couple of years with Renault, but Ferrari refused to enter into negotiations.
"We had to cope with some uncertainties of our own architecture and we had to bridge the technological gap," said Marchionne.
"So committing to providing an equivalent power unit to a team that has a chassis design technical ability to compete could have been dangerous to Ferrari's competitiveness.
"My main commitment is to support and protect Ferrari. I'm not interested in defeating Mercedes with Red Bull.
"If someone says let's use Ferrari's engine so we can defeat Mercedes, I'm not interested in that argument. I want Ferrari to win.
"We know Red Bull's abilities are good, they destroyed us with Sebastian Vettel and the championships they won."
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Ferrari president Sergio Marchione has admitted that they decided against supplying engines to Red Bull because it would harm their competitiveness.
The Italian giants have not won a championship since 2008 and tussled with Red Bull for four years between 2010-2014.
The Austrian team needed a new supplier this season after a poor couple of years with Renault, but Ferrari refused to enter into negotiations.
"We had to cope with some uncertainties of our own architecture and we had to bridge the technological gap," said Marchionne.
"So committing to providing an equivalent power unit to a team that has a chassis design technical ability to compete could have been dangerous to Ferrari's competitiveness.
"My main commitment is to support and protect Ferrari. I'm not interested in defeating Mercedes with Red Bull.
"If someone says let's use Ferrari's engine so we can defeat Mercedes, I'm not interested in that argument. I want Ferrari to win.
"We know Red Bull's abilities are good, they destroyed us with Sebastian Vettel and the championships they won."
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