Renault wants to shine at home to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its first victory

The 14 points scored by the two Renault drivers at the Canadian Grand Prix allowed the team to double its total in the Constructors’ Championship in a single race.

A much-anticipated and particularly welcome development before the French Grand Prix for the French team, which has been quite disappointing since the start of the season despite the recruitment this winter of star Daniel Ricciardo alongside Nico Hülkenberg.

The arrival at Circuit Paul Ricard coincides with numerous developments that will be introduced on the yellow and black single-seaters, as recently confirmed by the team’s sporting director, Cyril Abiteboul: « France is clearly an important stage. Le Castellet is not only our national Grand Prix but also an opportunity to showcase a new improvement in our competitiveness. While Canada and its “engine” type circuit highlighted the performance gains of our power unit, France will see the introduction of several chassis developments. One thing is clear: we cannot rest on the result of Montreal, we must aim for the same by continuing to fight to close the gap to the leaders ».

An offensive speech relayed by the two drivers, eager for good results: « I am looking forward to feeling all the fervor of the French public and I hope the team will be proud of me. I know this is an important race for them and all that it represents for all those involved. Our goal must be to repeat our performance in Canada. Last year, the team had a good pace at Circuit Paul Ricard, so we arrive on a rather positive note. We have developments that should mark the beginning of a real trend. Everything is progressing well and I will also continue to better myself since I am gaining more and more confidence as the car improves. » specifically notes Daniel Ricciardo.

The tone is the same on the other side of the garage where Nico Hülkenberg is determined to put an end to his mixed start to the season: « Hard work always pays off. It was great to see a collective effort result in an excellent final outcome. We had underperformed at previous meetings, sometimes due to technical faults or human errors. I feel like we always had this potential, but it wasn’t coming through. We finally had a clean and straightforward weekend to score big points. I hope this will be the turning point of our season. We have new developments for this race and I can’t wait to take advantage of them, hoping they will improve the car’s performance to help us close the gap with the leading teams. We have a good package, performing consistently, so I’m optimistic for Paul Ricard. »

Good morning everyone, it’s #RACEweek!
It’s a special one: our Home Grand Prix as well as the 40-year anniversary of our first victory in @F1.#RSspirit #FrenchGP pic.twitter.com/UW5G2fJBMy

— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) 17 juin 2019

This race is elegantly special for the French team as it will mark the 40th anniversary of Renault’s first Formula 1 victory won by Jean-Pierre Jabouille on July 1, 1979.

To celebrate the event appropriately, Renault has posted an archive video on its website that shows the behind-the-scenes of this first victory, the first for a Turbo engine in Formula 1, achieved during the French Grand Prix at the Dijon-Prenois circuit.