Frédéric Vasseur admits he is not sure 2017’s planned rules revolution will reshuffle Formula One’s competitive order, but says Renault switched its focus to next year “very early”.
2017 will see the introduction of wider tyres and more aggressive-looking cars, which are expected to lap up to five seconds faster per lap than at present.
Mercedes’ rivals hope the radical changes can help end the German manufacturer’s dominance in the 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged era, but Vasseur thinks the reigning Constructors’ champions remain well-equipped to cope with the overhaul.
“[2017 rules] won’t totally reshuffle the cards,” he told reporters at the latest round of the Renault Sport Series in Spa-Francorchamps. “Contrary to what you might think, I am not sure the new regulations will be such a big advantage for Renault because I think they will favour well-oiled structures with reactive staff, while we are still in the process of re-building the team.
“What can happen though is that teams fighting for positions in this year’s Constructors’ championship are tempted to still allocate resources to improve their current chassis and find an extra tenth for the upcoming races.
“On the other hand, for a team like Mercedes, whose place has been more or less secured for some time, it's easier to shift its attention towards 2017. So it will not really reshuffle the order, structurally at least.
“Now, the big difference can come from the range of technical choices and philosophies favoured by the teams. We saw it at the time of Brawn GP [in 2009] when several squads had gone for double diffusers and the others had to catch up. This is where you can have the edge.”
Following Renault’s late takeover of the cash-strapped Lotus team, Vasseur admits ambitions for 2016 were modest with the French constructor quickly deciding to prepare for the following season.
“We had two choices: we could concentrate on 2016 and spend a lot of energy to progress and play catch up, or we could focus on 2017 very early, knowing there were major regulation changes in the pipeline. I don’t know what happened at other teams but we switched to next year very early. We’ll see how it goes.
“The other big task we had at hand was the restructuring of the team. We started the season with 450 people, we’re currently 570 and we should have a staff of 650 next year. This kind of change can not bear its fruits on track immediately.
“Plus the hiring process in F1 is very long, as top managers and engineers have lengthy gardening leave periods. There is no short cut to this but that’s part of F1. If you don’t accept it, then you should do something else.”
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