F1

Do you see Renault winning the championship in the next five years?

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  • #309306
    Patrick
    Participant

    So it’s a weekend without F1 and I’m a bit bored.

    The acquisition of Lotus is only a matter of time (all sources point towards an announcement at Abu Dhabi) and we already know the team will be rebranded Renault as soon as possible after the takeover.

    My question is: do you see Renault winning the championship in the next five years?

    My take on this:
    From the outside, it doesn’t look like Renault is that interested into F1: the Lotus acquisition has taken awfully long (supposedly because they wanted to take over Lotus for as cheap as possible) and this has already compromised their 2016 campaign. They are developing two versions of their car for next year (one with a Merecdes engine and one with a Renault engine) and because of all the uncertainty around the team, Grosjean has left.

    Let’s face it: Maldonado and Palmer aren’t future world champions. This means we will have a top team on the grid next year with sub-par drivers.

    Of course, they could focus on 2017 and try to lure Grosjean and Alonso back but after seeing how budget conscious they have been in the past few years (their lack of a competitive engine is probably due to don’t allocating sufficient resources to the development of it), I just don’t see them spending 30 million on a top-driver.

    #309310
    Iestyn Davies
    Participant

    Interesting question. Last time arguably they did – 2001, winning in 2005 and 2006. But, to repeat that, they’d need to commit money in the same way.

    I can see them getting back to the head of the midfield, probably with a line up of Kvyat and Magnussen or a French driver to that effect (Vergne? Ocon? Grosjean?), starting with an effective 2017 car. What would really help them, however, is the return of exhaust blowing..

    I also wonder if the same question is applicable to McLaren-Honda, which one has a better chance? Plus, to do so, they would both have to beat Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull, who are in a similar situation, just not yet as bad.

    #309338
    Strontium
    Participant

    This team has a history of doing well and badly continuously up and down. 2005 and 2006 it was good, fell down between 2007 and 2009, was on the rise again between 2010 and 2013, to the point where it was the only team to challenge the dominant 2013 Red Bull at the end of the season, then has been terrible ever since.

    So I definitely think they have the ability, in terms of facilities and engineers, it just comes down to how much money is pumped into the team. I wouldn’t say they have much chance of a championship but I definitely think they have potential to be back near the top.

    In terms of why it has taken so long for the deal to be done, don’t forget they want prize money from Bernie, which would take time to negotiate.

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