Renault finished 6th in the championship last year but the start of the 2018 season found both cars in the points and the earmarks of another leap in performance. Back when Renault re-acquired their old team, I said that much of their grey matter had been poached but that if the team could re-build, this is a team that isn’t to be trifled with as they know how to win races and titles…they had two in a row with Fernando Alonso.
As they slowly progressed, I could see the gains and methodical approach and when they hired Nico Hulkenberg, they were definitely moving in the right direction. Now it seems they could score consistent points with the addition of Carlos Sainz and this has left their rivals impressed.
Claire Williams said:
“Renault have definitely done a pretty impressive job – I think they are probably fighting, going to be snapping the heels of the top three,” Williams said in Melbourne.
“That’s a phenomenal turnaround – to turn around a team in this sport takes a huge amount of hard work and effort.
“And they seem to have done a really good job.”
Claire knows what it takes and has seen her share of ups and downs at Williams. I still maintain that Renault could be ultimately fighting toward the front for a podium if they get their power unit sorted but if I had to place a bet on it, I might suggest that it won’t be until the new engine regulations in 2021 come before they make even bigger leaps. I hope I am wrong.
Enstone has some very sharp folks over there and they’ve had some difficult times in the past with employee departures and worse. Now they are re-building and if I’m honest, I wasn’t sure how Cyril Abiteboul at the head of the team but so far, it seems to be working.
Can Renault be best of the rest this year or will it come down to terrific battle with McLaren? Either way, I think we are in for a good season of battles between them.
Hat Tip: Autosport
Re Renault “impressive progress”. According to Diario Gol Renault might be able to get Alonso in one of their seats in two thousand nineteen unless he chooses to retire from F1, this “speculation” is build on a “speculation” that mclaren are taking a serious hit with his salary “euro 40 m” and claims that mclaren are not willing to continue for another season after this. Also, but although out of topic might interest some. re force india unpaid bills subject of last week force india financial situation, unpaid bills by either the team or the owner for me is one… Read more »
Cheers Sunny. That is interesting speculation about Renault potentially signing Alonso. Alonso’s team choices since he left Renault have worked out so poorly that I wonder if he’d be prepared to make another move to a team that is building, or only has the potential to do well. He’s been there since 2007.
(Maybe if that second seat at Mercedes or Ferrari were available? ???).
And Force India, it would be a shame if Vijay’s problems took the team down, hopefully they can be disentangled from Vijay before his creditors, or the law, take him down.
I am not a legal person but I don’t believe that Force India (the F1 team) can be disentangled from Vijay Mallya and or his problems because “Mallya’s lawyers had last year applied to the British court for additional living expenses (granted) as part of an estimated USD 1.5 billion WORLD WIDE freezing order last year. The above tells me that anything that he is involved in is frozen world wide by court order and that he is living on a court allowance so I see no way of any money input into the F1 team or the possibility of… Read more »
I was just having a look on line, it looks like Vijay is in a world of trouble financially, and legally. Though it looks like his assets far exceed his liabilities, so no doubt a deal could be done to sort things out, eventually. On a happy note, it seems he’s just remarried, to a much younger former airline hostess, so he’s making the best of his bad situation. Any young Nando has made, some great financial team selections, but not so smart for a guy who has decided he actually wants to leave a legacy of one of the… Read more »
OK, SO to you it looks like Vijay assets far exceeds his liabilities. good luck with that.