RENAULT
Pre-season was a largely positive start for a team with great potential. Expectations at Renault will need to be kept in check as the move back to full constructor status will take time to make a noticeable difference on track. The infrastructure of the team - which was shrinking as Lotus last year - needs rebuilding but the ingredients are there for future success.
For this year, much depends on the power unit. Integration should be improved as a constructor but outright performance was sorely lacking last year. Enstone showed it can produce a solid car in 2015 and appears to have done so again this year, with both Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer speaking positively about how predictable the car is to drive, giving both confidence to push it to its limit.
Upgrades will start to come through later in the year, but essentially Renault could do worse than treating this season as a testing year to make sure the foundations are in place for a major step forward under new regulations in 2017.
Silbermann's view
Only last year, we were mocking Eddie Jordan for saying how great it was that Romain Grosjean had put a Renault engine back on the podium, when the Lotus were Mercedes-powered. Well, be careful what you wish for, because Renault has rescued Lotus from bankruptcy which is great, but that comes at a price, in that the new owners came with some baggage in the form of the gift no one wants, the Viry viry slow power unit. Yes, it’s great that Enstone is once more on a safe financial footing, but behind all the hoopla surrounding the French car company’s return to F1 as a constructor, Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer will still be going into battle with the weakest power unit out there.
