Canada put Renault 'back in the game' before home race

Renault F1 team principal Cyril Abiteboul says the French outfit's perfectly executed Canadian Grand Prix has put the team "back in the game" for F1's mid-field battle.

Renault endured a difficult start to its 2019 campaign, with its results undermined by engine reliability issues which have since been addressed and solved.

In Montreal, the team enjoyed a double-points finish that went a long way towards reviving its ambitions of leading the mid-field in the upcoming rounds.

"It's a good team result, it's the best that we could expect at this point, it puts us back in the game, very close from the McLarens," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

"It's also good because it was simply a weekend that has happened without an issue, that developed itself without any particular problem. And therefore we see what's possible if we are capable of doing that.

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"Frankly I can tell you that from Thursday, Friday onwards, it's been a perfect execution, absolutely no mistakes, absolutely no incidents.

"So, in all respects, it's a blueprint and an example of what needs to follow."

Renault will head to Paul Ricard next week with a raft of aero upgrades for its R.S.19 that should include changes to the car's front wing and floor, and a tighter rear engine cowling thanks to a more compact cooling system.

However, Abiteboul dismisses the notion of a 'B' car even if the changes are significant.

"I said the first priority was to fix the problem with the engine, and that was done in Monaco," said the Frenchman. "But Monaco is not very visible for reasons of track sensitivity but was much more visible here, and that's clear.

"We said that the next step was improvement to the chassis, and there has been improvement, but indeed more substantial is coming for Ricard.

"We need to execute those improvements properly. There will have to be some tests and so on and so forth.

"But that should give us what we want, which is a bit of breathing space against the midfield, so that we can focus also and think a bit more medium-to-long-term to continue our development and to continue our improvement to the top teams."

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