Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRenault

Renault will not compromise 2017 despite struggles

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Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul insists the team will not let its struggles this season compromise its 2017 preparations.

Having returned to F1 as a full constructor this season, the late confirmation of the deal to acquire Lotus has led to Renault starting the year on the back foot. With an underdeveloped car, Abiteboul says there will be upgrades introduced to improve performance but the main focus must remain on next year's regulation changes.

"I can’t hide the fact that the last race in China didn’t meet our expectations," Abiteboul said. "We haven’t taken it lightly, but we now need to draw a line under the first three races of the season.

"The reality is that we need to keep pushing and improve overall performance, but without compromising on our 2017 potential, which is where our best chance of success lies.

"We can take inspiration from the solid work we have done on the engine, which now needs to replicated on the chassis side.

"That said, there’s a lot to look forward to in Russia, which is an important market for Renault. We have always aimed to use F1 as a vehicle for local market activities, as we did in China. We expect to have some other exciting announcements in the near future."

Renault has yet to score a point in the opening three rounds of the season and the Chinese Grand Prix saw Jolyon Palmer finish last of the 22 runners.

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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.