Renault primed for upgrades at ‘almost every race’

Renault head of trackside operations Alan Permane says the French manufacturer is ready to introduce upgrades at “almost every race” across the next six to eight grands prix, now that the initial phase following its Lotus takeover has been completed.

It took lengthy negotiations for Renault to buy out the Enstone outfit, with last December’s agreement having an impact on the early form of the returning works outfit.

Despite Kevin Magnussen’s breakthrough points finish in a drama-filled race in Russia last time out, he and team-mate Jolyon Palmer have yet to qualify higher than 14th.

Managing director Cyril Abiteboul has described this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix as “the exit point in our recovery from a takeover” that saw the initial Lotus chassis hastily adapted to host a Renault power unit instead of a Mercedes engine.

"We have some aero development and we have some front suspension developments coming and we have an engine upgrade in Canada so we can expect to be putting something on the car almost every race for the next six to eight races," Permane told Autosport.

"We're not running the front suspension parts until the Spanish test so you'll see them in Monaco.

"It's back to normal for us. We're still not fully up to speed and we are still strengthening but it's great."

Chassis technical director Nick Chester already confirmed that Renault will start assessing in next week’s Barcelona F1 test, while Abiteboul previously insisted that the French constructor was not writing off its 2016 campaign.

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