F1i continues to look back over the whole of the 2017 Formula 1 world championship season team-by-team and driver-by-driver.
Renault
It was only two years ago that Lotus F1 came close to going into liquidation, before their 11th hour takeover by Renault and reconstitution into a works team. In many ways that near-death experience still hangs over the team to this day, especially in terms of the talented personnel they were forced to let go at the time.
Renault continues to rebuild, and its hiring of the FIA's former F1 technical chief Marcin Budkowski for 2018 is particularly audacious, as was their acquisition of Carlos Sainz on a one-year loan. They've also made progress against their rivals on track, leapfrogging Toro Rosso, Haas and McLaren to finish the season in sixth place in the constructors standings. They were sixth in five Grand Prix events including the season finale in Abu Dhabi, with Nico Hulkenberg taking the lion's share of the honours.
Significant question marks over its power unit's performance and reliability remain. Even so, there's little doubt that this has been a year of strong and steady progress at Enstone.
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