Renault F1: reliability or performance, nothing is working!
Renault experienced an extremely complicated first Grand Prix, with only two out of four cars reaching the finish line. Both reliability and performance are seriously in question within the French engine manufacturer.
The least that can be said is that Renault disappointed observers on this first weekend of the season. Some problems are certainly not attributable to the Power Unit from Viry-Châtillon: Carlos Sainz lost a lot of time due to a failed pit stop, while Daniil Kvyat couldn’t start because of a gearbox problem.
On the other hand, both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen experienced heat engine problems, the former during free practice (he even had to change his engine already) and the latter during the race, which likely forced him to retire. On that same Sunday, Daniel Ricciardo was unable to catch up with Felipe Nasr’s Ferrari-powered Sauber and had to settle for sixth place. The relationship with Red Bull is becoming increasingly stormy. Team director Christian Horner did not hesitate to say that Renault had messed things up.
Rémi Taffin, Director of Operations, cannot avoid the unpleasant reports: « Since the beginning of the weekend, we have faced several technical difficulties, both with Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Reliability was an issue, with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen experiencing problems with their internal combustion engines. The two issues are not related, and we are investigating to ensure they do not occur again. »
In addition to reliability issues, the Red Bull and Toro Rosso drivers struggled to handle their cars: « The biggest concern is the flexibility, which has indeed prevented the drivers from feeling comfortable in their cars. This is related to the mappings or configurations of the Power Unit, so it’s not an easy problem to solve, but it doesn’t require rethinking everything. We have a lot of work to do before Malaysia, but at the same time, a lot of motivation to avoid experiencing the same problems again this weekend ».
Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director of Renault Sport, acknowledges his faults: « The weekend was really frustrating. We know that we made real progress over the winter, but we couldn’t show it here, and in reality, it even seems we may have fallen back in the hierarchy. Given the pace of our development during the last weeks of winter, we might not have many changes to unlock improvements. »
While the storm rages with Red Bull, Cyril Abiteboul calls for reason: Now, we must react, but not overreact, and return to some common sense, which has always guided our approach throughout these years as a Formula 1 engine manufacturer. The season will be long, we have the time and the capability to respond and make this very poor start to the 2015 season a thing of the past.
Renault still has 12 development tokens to overturn a situation that can already be described as concerning.
