Renault's Abiteboul wants confirmation and consolidation in 2017

Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul wants the French team's upside trajectory to continue while tightening up its structure.

The manufacture's return as a full-works outfit last season following its buy-out of Lotus lad to difficult season as Renault set out to relearn the ropes of Formula 1.

It was very much a work in progress in 2016 with ongoing staff building and restructuring at its Enstone and Viry bases running parallel to its efforts out on the race track.

The time has now come to exploit its foundation while pursuing progress on both teh engine and chassis fronts.

"2017 will be more of a consolidation year," Abiteboul explained.

"In Viry, the focus is much more on quality rather than quantity. We may actually reduce slightly the size of our operations.

"On the chassis side, we have recruited something like 100 people, so that is a growth of 20% of headcount, which is a lot.

"We are going to slow down a little bit the recruitment, make sure everyone is finding their feet.

"I will be more focused on securing the right department heads, which takes time because of the contractual situation - the more senior you go in an organisation, the longer it takes to get those people.

"But we have some in the pipeline that will join us over the course of the season."

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Efforts at Renault's engine department at Viry-Châtillon , located in the southern suburbs of Paris, have centered around designing a new internal combustion engine and ERS for 2017.

The revised power unit is destined to bridge the gap with Mercedes, says Abiteboul, a claim which will be music to the ears of Red Bull.

"There is absolutely no doubt about that, and maybe in the future the potential to overtake them," he said.

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