Renault racing director Frédéric Vasseur admitted that the French team is not currently focused on its relative performance, as its priority is currently to get its 2016 contender on its rails while building the team's foundation.
"To be honest, we've had so many things to do so far that we didn't spend time trying to imagine where we could be relative to others," Vasseur explained.
"We knew it would be very tough as we only took over the team at the end of December, and at that stage, at the first meeting we had at Enstone, the target we had for Barcelona was unexpected.
"We're taking it step by step, we're improving and we have to continue like this."
Vasseur insisted that it wasn't where the team starts the season that counts but rather where it will end up nine months down the road.
"At the launch, Carlos Ghosn gave us a road map, so we know we have to go. It doesn't better where we start, we just have to reach our target at the end."
The Renault team boss also revealed that the very short lead time into the new season since the manufacturer took over Lotus means that the team was currently marginal on spare parts.
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