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Renault opts for 'very aggressive' power unit in 2017

Renault has taken a "very aggressive" option in terms of its power unit development in 2017, according to Cyril Abiteboul.

The French manufacturer struggled for both performance and reliability in 2015 but showed good improvement last year after returning as a full constructor, with its power unit winning two races with Red Bull. Despite that progress, Abiteboul says next year's engine will be a radical departure from its previous concept.

"Frankly we have had long discussions about [whether it is a gamble] because at the point in time that everything is changing on the rest of the car, we could have taken a more conservative approach in trying to freeze what we have and focus on the chassis," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

"But we have not gone for that. We have gone for a very aggressive option – which is that there is no time. If we want to be where we would like to be for 2018 or 2020, which is the next phase, when we want to target the top teams, we cannot afford to delay anything. So we need to accept to take risk.

"We will be focusing on reliability with that new concept of engine – which will be a new concept I can confirm that.

"It means that it may not be a big jump in terms of performance, simply for the reason that we want to make sure to introduce this concept that it is reliable and that will be the perfect platform to develop the performance for the next three to four years."

And Abiteboul says there are a number of new innovations involved in the new power unit, with Renault taking advantage of the removal of the token system restricting development.

"I prefer to be conservative in the expectation for the first initial running of the engine at the start of the season. But definitely it is an engine that is offering the potential to cope with an awful lot of development. We have lot of ideas of concepts in the pipelines – most of them, as far as I am aware, have not been seen at the track.

"Clearly I am not going to disclose anything, but we are super excited by the level of innovation that this new platform offers. So it is a choice that we are not making for the start of the season but we are definitely making for the long term."

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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.