Mid-season review – Renault: A groping return to the track

The important figures

Constructor standings position: 9th

Pole: 0

Podium: 0

Victory: 0

Best result: 7 (Magnussen: Russia)

Best qualification: 14th (Palmer: Australia)

A car not so easy to handle

After comparing the results obtained in qualifying and in the race (best time achieved), there is a relative consistency. On average, the Renaults are in 16th place in the race and 18th place in qualifying. The revival of Renault from the ashes of Lotus has not been easy, but Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer manage to make a few impressions with a car that seems to greatly lack performance in qualifying.

In both qualifying and the race, it’s Kevin Magnussen who best masters the yellow car, but it’s Jolyon Palmer who delivered Renault’s best qualifying performance this season at the opening Grand Prix, albeit with a qualifying format that didn’t last long.

In races, the RS16 gives the drivers a hard time, even though it managed to reach the top 10 lap times on four occasions, three of which were achieved by Kevin Magnussen.

Six points, that’s all

If reaching Q2 in Australia suggested a satisfactory return to form for the French team, converting it into points at the end of the race had to wait until Russia with Magnussen finishing 7th, even though in Melbourne the Danish and British drivers ranked 12th and 11th respectively, finishing two seconds apart. Subsequently, reaching Q2 became more challenging for the yellows, and the Melbourne performance was not matched again.

In racing, the results are a bit inconsistent for the Renault team. As demonstrated by the classification of the best lap times in races, it seems that Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer are sometimes under a lucky star and sometimes not. Despite Palmer’s retirement from the formation lap in Bahrain, Magnussen tames the French car and matches Palmer’s performance in Australia. But in China, the Renaults are nearly invisible. Russia presents an opportunity to score points; after the first lap incidents and a good one-stop strategy, Magnussen finishes 7th at the checkered flag while Palmer ends up 13th.

Just like Sauber, Renault has to withdraw its two cars in Monaco and takes the hit. This is followed by mixed results, revealing the team’s delay in car development. Frédéric Vasseur, team principal of Renault Sport F1 Team, spoke about this after the German Grand Prix, explaining that the Enstone site was under construction and that the production capacity of new parts developed during the season was much lower than other teams, causing delays in getting parts into the team’s hands.

The assessment of the pilots

As previously mentioned, Kevin Magnussen seems more comfortable behind the wheel of the Renault. However, it cannot be said that the Danish driver dominates his British teammate. Indeed, Jolyon Palmer is in his first season in F1 as a main driver and is not falling short compared to his teammate, who is in his second season. Even though the Brit hasn’t fully settled into driving an F1 yet, he showcases his abilities by coming close to earning points, as seen in Australia, and by finishing below the 14th place on four other occasions. Additionally, Palmer has suffered more reliability issues with his Renault than Magnussen, which may affect his results positively at the start of his F1 career but prevents him from shining even more. He had a chance in Hungary, running in 10th place in the final laps but made a mistake and had a harmless spin in turn 4. As a result, at the finish, the 10th place point slipped away to Nico Hülkenberg, with Jolyon Palmer only finishing 12th behind the other Force India of Sergio Pérez.

Moving to the second grade very soon

The news broke a few days ago: Carlos Ghosn has decided to speed up things in the F1 team to return more quickly to the forefront. Investments will be increased, and we wish nothing but the best for the French team that had left F1 in 2011 following the choices of the French manufacturer. Renault’s last years in F1 before 2011 were not illustrious, but a decade after the second Constructors’ title won thanks to Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella, the French manufacturer is making a comeback in F1 as a team and plans to compete for the title in a few seasons.

In the absence of a title this season, new improvements and new points would boost the motivation of the team and the drivers with these more substantial investments, and we are waiting to know which drivers will be in the Renault seat in 2017. Magnussen and Palmer have proven themselves at the wheel of the RS16, but Renault does not rule out other possibilities for the next season.