Abiteboul keen for early start to 2018 with Sainz switch

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Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul is aiming to use the final four races of 2017 to get a jump start on next year's campaign, after securing the early arrival of Carlos Sainz.

The team parted company with Jolyon Palmer after the Japanese Grand Prix in order for Sainz to transfer from Toro Rosso sooner than had originally been expected.

"We would like to thank Jolyon for his efforts with the Renault Sport team over the last two seasons," Abiteboul said this week.

"He has worked extremely hard to help the team and we have always appreciated his professionalism and loyalty. We wish him the very best for his future."

Abiteboul was now looking forward to the beginning of a new era for the team at the next race on the calendar.

"We welcome Carlos to the team ready for the United States Grand Prix," he continued. "We are looking forward to working with him.

"His arrival is important for the remainder of this season," he said. "And also for our 2018 season preparations.

"It gives us an advantage to use these final four races with Carlos in the car as a transitional period, and get him up to speed with the car and the team."

Sainz is on loan to Renault in 2018 as part of a complex arrangement involving engines deals. He will be a big loss to Toro Rosso, having won 48 of the team's tally of 52 points.

Sainz ready to hit the ground running in Austin!

Renault is currently in eighth place in the constructors championship, ten points behind Toro Rosso. Sainz' relocation could easily turn that around in the remaining races of the season.

"The US Grand Prix is an important race for us, as we remain in the fight for fifth place in the Constructors’ standings," agreed Abiteboul.

"The car will benefit from upgrades [in Austin] and it’s therefore essential we score points."

He was frustrated that the team had lost ground after failing to score in either of the two most recent races in Malaysia and Japan.

"We are hugely disappointed to go back-to-back races without scoring a point, which has benefitted our rival teams.

"Our strategy with both cars on Sunday in Japan put us into a good position," he pointed out. "But a flap pivot bracket failed on the rear wing of Nico’s car and forced him out.

"We are missing out on points due to reliability, and it’s essential that we have an error-free weekend in Austin."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.