Renault starting point 'very encouraging'

Renault racing director Frederic Vasseur says the team's starting point in 2016 is "very encouraging" for the future.

The late confirmation of the Lotus takeover meant Renault only had three months to prepare fully for its return as a constructor to F1. One major challenge was having to swap a Mercedes power unit for a Renault at such late notice, but the car has proven to have a good baseline and was relatively competitive in Australia despite failing to score a point. Vasseur says the way a new driver line-up performed as well as the strengths of the car are both positive signs for the future.

"I think we can be very pleased with the drivers," Vasseur said. "Jolyon [Palmer] had a very good debut. It was a shame for Kevin [Magnussen], but he built back up and was strong at the end of the race. It’s a bit disappointing we did not score points, but we did not truthfully expect to be in the points in Melbourne given the late start we had to the project.

"We don’t have to be focussed on one thing [in Bahrain], but work on every side of the business: engine, chassis and drivers. We need to work as a team to move forward. But it is very encouraging to start like we did in Australia, we now need to keep the momentum going."

And Vasseur says Renault will need to improve its one lap pace in future to be able to get the most out of its race potential.

"It was a very positive start to the season. We aimed to get to the end of the race and we got there with two cars. The end result was not excessively flattering, due to the number of incidents that did not go in our favour, but the pace at the end was good, comparable to Force India and not far from Williams, which is encouraging for the team and a good basis to build on.

"We need to maximise our qualifying form so we can take advantage of this strong race pace but that will come I am sure. If it wasn’t for the restart I think we could have scored points as we were in a great position, but that’s life. We know where we are and what we need to do to achieve what we want."

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Technical analysis - Melbourne

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