Renault aiming for peak engine performance 'at each race'

Renault engine technical director Rémi Taffin aims for the manufacturer's power unit to deliver a high level of performance on a consistent basis in 2020.

Renault made progress last year on its engine's performance, but the unit was still dogged too often by reliability issues.

Taffin, the man who heads Renault's engine department at Viry-Châtillion is confident his engineers have optimized their power unit and its integration with the team's new R.S.20 chassis.

"It was important that we made a decent step in performance on the power unit last year," explained Taffin at the Renault F1 Team's presentation in Paris on Wednesday.

"Now it’s about delivering that level of performance at each race.

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"Throughout the end of the season we demonstrated this capability. The Monza result is an example of the progression we made on the power unit.

"There’s little that has changed for 2020 but we aim to integrate the engine into the car as best as possible and therefore making the whole system more efficient."

In its bid to bridge the gap with Formula 1's front-runners, Renault has allocated additional resources to both its Enstone and Viry units.

While changes at the latter are still ongoing, the investments have already delivered benefits.

"It’s clear in order to be successful in Formula 1 you need the resources," added the French engineer.

"There have been large changes at Enstone and now at Viry we’re in the process of constructing a large facility to accommodate the growing need for added technology.

"We’re looking to improve fluidity in our design and development process. Our dynos are state of the art and we’re well placed heading into the season."

Despite Renault failing to deliver on its expectations last season, Taffin says the working atmosphere at Viry is very positive.

"At Viry there’s a real energy," he said. " Last season fell below our expectations but it’s important to learn from it and put that into practice this year.

"We had some great performances and the power of the engine is clear to see.

"There’s a new dynamic in the team with Esteban joining Daniel. In turn, that acts as motivation for staff who want to find performance and put the hard work in order for the best possible season."

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