Abiteboul not a fan of nerve-racking season endings

Cyril Abiteboul admitted last weekend's Abu Dhabi GP was as stressful as it was rewarding, but insisted Renault must avoid putting itself at risk in the last race of the year.

Thanks to Nico Hulkenberg P6 finish at Yas Marina, Renault wrestled sixth place in the Constructors' standings from mid-field rival Toro Rosso, an achievement which yielded a hefty bonus of approximately $6.5 million!

But Abiteboul said he wasn't a fan of the trying epilogue, and hopes such a state of affairs can be avoided in the future.

"It is okay now, but the message is that we must avoid putting ourselves in such a position again," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

"It can be a very stylish way to finish the season, but we need to have a programme that is allowing us to secure what needs to be secured before that."

• Prost: 'Renault will deliver in two years time'

Renault advisor Alain Prost, who was no stranger to pressure when he battled his way to four world championship titles in his eventful career, also admitted that Sunday's race tested his nerves.

"Before the race, I was telling Cyril and all the guys and the mechanics that I had stress as you can't believe," Prost told Sky F1.

Abiteboul also underlined Renault's need to pull out all the stops with regard to settings to help ensure its result at Yas Marina.

"For the last 20 or 25 laps, it was all about tyres, fuel management energy and preserving engine," explained the French manager.

"When you do that, you start to enter into an operating envelope that is not very usual.

"We have been very extreme this weekend, we have been very extreme in the way we were preserving the engine and all of that, thanks to the huge team effort of Viry and Enstone."

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