Bell wants Renault to invest in aerodynamicists

Renault chief technical officer Bob Bell has called on the team to invest in expanding its team of aerodynamicists this season.

Bell rejoins Renault following spells at Mercedes and Manor, and will oversee both the chassis side headed up by Nick Chester and the engine side led by Remi Taffin. With Renault taking over Lotus following a period of financial uncertainty which saw the team shrink in terms of personnel numbers, Bell wants the new constructor to focus on increasing the size of the team again.

"I suppose if I simplify it, it is still largely a numbers game," Bell said. "We have lost a lot of aerodynamicists, we’ve lost a lot of designers, we have lost a lot of operations people … it’s not magic, we just need to put those numbers back in place again. It doesn’t matter how clever you are, it’s a matter of being clever and having resources. You need both.

"It’s pretty obvious where we need to make the investment, in people, equipment and facilities. It’s not particularly revolutionary and it’s clear to us what we need to do. We just need to be patient and realise that that is not something you can just do overnight.

"You need to build those resources up, find the right people and we have taken the correct approach that we are building for the future, looking to the long term and Renault are in Formula One for the long haul and we are not going to shortchange ourselves by making a dash to build up quickly with less than best resources. We’ll take our time, find the best people and find the best resources. We’ll take that approach."

And Bell highlights the aerodynamics department as one of the areas needing attention first.

"I think if you looked at it purely from a technical and performance point of view, the obvious side that needs to be built back up again is the aerodynamics side. We need more aerodynamicists, CFD specialists, track aerodynamics guys, model designers, model makers – that side of it is where the chassis side finds performance.

"Although it has swung much more to being a power unit dominated formula, aerodynamics is still critical and hasn’t gone away. On the chassis side we still need to build that up and become a very, very credible player in that area of design and development."

Mercedes still digging for F1 power unit gold

Who are the new Renault F1 juniors?

Key dates for the 2016 F1 season

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

2 hours ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

3 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

4 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

6 hours ago

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

7 hours ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

8 hours ago