[smr2018test]
Renault will be competitive enough to get both cars in the points at every race in the 2018 F1 season, according to managing director Cyril Abiteboul.
The team took 10 points-scoring finishes in last year’s 18 races but never managed a double points finish.
“This year it’s improvement everywhere,” said Abiteboul at today’s test. “I believe that we are stronger, the team is stronger, the chassis, the engine, the driver line-up is stronger.”
Renault is entering its third season since returning to Formula One.
Abiteboul predicts it and its rival teams will continue to make substantial development gains under the aerodynamic rules which were introduced 12 months ago.
“We think there are a number of teams who’ve tried to put a lot of things on their car from day one,” he said. “There have been some teams who have been more conservative.”
“Obviously if you are closer to the top you can afford to be more conservative. We want to have a strong and good baseline that we understand, and build and bring performance from that point onwards.”
Renault will have a “very strong development programme” in 2018, Abiteboul said. “I believe we are still in the early days of the regulation and we still have potential to extract performance in terms of aerodynamics.”
“We are just learning how to make the maximum of the regulations and I think that will be the case for every single team. So we’ve made some strategic decisions, some clear priorities, and every single time we are putting the model car in the wind tunnel we are finding more gains. So we will have to be a little bit patient for that to arrive on the track.”
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Hugh (@hugh11)
27th February 2018, 17:24
Could be true, except Hulkenberg will have a strange mechanical failure every time there’s a chance for a podium, so unfortunately that won’t happen.
swh1386 (@swh1386)
27th February 2018, 17:55
They could last year to be fair…. just not both drivers!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
27th February 2018, 22:13
Cyril knows nothing about anything, he’s clueless, so in order to come up with something to say, he says nothing.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
28th February 2018, 0:22
I don’t think so, look at brazil for example, there were several races where points were NOT in the offer, not even for hulkenberg.
Hugh (@hugh11)
28th February 2018, 12:46
Brazil, you mean the race where he came 10th and got a point?
Todfod (@todfod)
28th February 2018, 8:07
Bit of a bold statement from Cyril. Although, they do have a better driver line up this year and judging by their performance in pre season testing so far, they should have better reliability as well.
To meet Cyril’s claim, Renault would need to be quicker than Force india right from the start. Williams is doing the entire midfield a favour by running Stroll and Sirotkin. So, I think that should help Renault as well. Mclaren are off to a poor start… So if you think about it, points at every race could be a possibility.