Renault will certainly take solace in the fact that it scored a championship point in each of the last couple of races, and technical director Nick Chester is optimistic the feat can be repeated in Suzuka next weekend.
Renault's relative upturn in performance in Singapore and Malaysia appears surprising as most thought the French squad had pretty much written off 2016 to focus on next season.
But the outfit hasn't completely written off this year's campaign, and improvements have found their way onto the team's RS 16, as Renault's technical director explains
"The fruits of increased resources are filtering through and having an impact," confirmed Chester.
"We’ve made great strides in our understanding of set-up and in particular how we use the tyres as we’ve been able to allocate more resource to these areas.
"Our better resources also mean we are able to produce and renew parts with improved quality in comparison to our recent past.
"Even something like a floor sees performance degradation so by imposing shorter life cycles for the parts you are able to maintain a higher level of performance.
"Even though there are not new concepts coming to the car, we are able to make more out of what we have.
"Finally, both drivers naturally are developing and growing so we are better able to make the most of our potential than at the start."
So what are the team's prospects for next weekend aroung the challenging and daunting Suzuka layout?
"It’s an old-school track and one drivers really seem to enjoy. It’s very challenging – in the first sector in particular with the first two turns and then through the snake.
"It has a great layout. In terms of engineering there’s a bit of a trade-off as you need a good chunk of downforce for the high speed but there is a reasonable amount of time spent on the straights where you want less drag and there’s a reasonable degree of power-sensitivity so it’s a real balance of all these aspects.
"Given recent performance of the R.S.16 we head there reasonably optimistic and aim to pick up some more points."
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