Renault not looking at a transitional year - Vasseur

Newly-appointed Renault racing director Frédéric Vasseur does not see the French manufacturer's 2016 campaign as a transitional year.

From a new car designed in-house to prominent t new team personnel, the Regie's return to Grand Prix racing as a fully fledged works outfit includes many unknowns, but Vasseur is adamant that Renault will be fully immersed and in the thick of it from the get-go.

"I don’t like the word ‘transition’," said Renault's racing director.

"In France it is not a good reputation in the past. We had transition, transition and transition… and that is not the right way to do it because it will be difficult to deliver good results this year, but we have to keep people under pressure.

"You can’t be satisfied with 17th or 18th, you have to keep everybody under pressure: the guy doing the pit-stop, the mechanics, the reliability, the chassis…

"We have to push like hell, it doesn’t matter the performance. In terms of strategy, it is a bit different, because we have to decide at one stage whether we are pushing more for 2016 or for 2017 due to the change in regulations for next year, but the spirit of the team has to be the same."

Asked about a timeframe on which Renault is hoped to deliver the expected performance and fulfill its ambitions, the ART Grand Prix co-founder deferred to Carlos Ghosn's comments while emphasizing first and foremost his responsibility and aim of building a strong team.

"I will listen to the chief and follow the road map of the chief," Vasseur said. "We have to be ready for the podium in the third season and win in the fifth.

"Ranking is not that important. We know the situation and we only took on the company on the 19th of December. So our purpose is not say we'll be P9, P7 or P5, but the first objective is to build up a strong team and build up a base for the next seasons."

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