Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRenault

'Tremendous potential' needs exploiting at Renault

New Renault chief technical officer Bob Bell says the team has "tremendous potential" which needs to be exploited.

Bell has rejoined Renault following spells at Mercedes and Manor, with the remit to oversee the partnership between the chassis and power unit sides of the team.

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With Enstone having produced race-winning cars in both 2012 and 2013, and Renault winning four consecutive championships as an engine supplier from 2010-13, Bell is excited by what can be achieved if he can get both aspects of the team working together successfully.

"There is tremendous potential to be tapped on both sides of the equation," Bell said. "To characterise the current situation in both organisations, firstly you have Enstone, which is an organisation that has been starved of resources in recent times, but structurally is pretty sound.

"Viry, on the other hand, could be characterised as being resourced well enough to do a credible job however recent history has seen a very difficult situation with the change to the latest power units and this has impacted on how the facility operates.

"The key for Viry is galvanising the leadership and direction with the new opportunities that a works F1 entry provides. The focus is more structural whereas at Enstone it’s more resource-based. We’re clear on what the issues have been in the past and we’re working on putting them right."

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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.