Renault investing in facilities as well as personnel

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Renault is having to invest in its facilities to cater for an ever-expanding workforce, according to team principal Frederic Vasseur.

With Renault taking over the cash-strapped Lotus team at the end of 2015, the French manufacturer has been rebuilding at Enstone so far this season. Acknowledging it will be years before the team can challenge for championships, Vasseur says it is not as simple as hiring more staff to become more competitive in future.

"When we took over the company the headcount was something around 470," Vasseur told the official Formula One website. "Right now we have 570, so there has already been a significant change, and we are planning to hire something in the range of 70 to 80 more people. But to manage that new headcount we also have to invest in building structure and machinery - and that all takes time."

Further explaining the rebuilding process, Vasseur says the impact of personnel hired at this stage will not be felt for another two years in some areas.

"Well, I knew before the season that it would be quite tough! And outsiders probably don’t have the same understanding of the situation: if you want to be successful, you sometimes have to bite the bullet. This is a long-term project - we need to build up a completely new team.

"If somebody joins at the end of 2016 he will design the car of 2018, so this in itself is a time that has to be considered. Yes, right now we are improving on track - we already have a better organisation than at the start of the season, so we are moving forward - but again: we will get results in mid-term and not next week."

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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.