Abiteboul: “Very satisfied with the reliability of the Renault engine” at the Barcelona tests

The six days of winter testing Formula 1 in Barcelona (Spain) allowed Renault to fill up on satisfaction. In any case, this is what ensures Cyril Abiteboul, the main team of the French team. 

“Today (Friday) marked the culmination of two weeks of efficient and productive pre-season testing from which we leave with the satisfaction of the work accomplished. The R.S.20 behaved as we expected thanks to the progress made throughout the winter by enstone and Viry in order to introduce all parts with high standards in a timely manner.”, he says.

That's it for #F1Testing!

Wrapping it up nicely with pitstop practice. #RSspirit pic.twitter.com/CvYbZSzGty

- Renault F1 Team (@ RenaultF1Team) February 28, 2020

More than the times achieved by Esteban Ocon et Daniel Ricciardo, it is reliability which gave positive signs to Cyril Abiteboul. “This preparation has put us in an ideal position to review all the important topics with few flaws over the course of the fortnight. 

We first focused on evaluating the main features of our package and determining the reliability levels of the chassis and engine before working on different tuning options with some interesting ideas and others not so much. »

“We can be very satisfied with the reliability of the engine since we only used one propulsion unit, and our client McLaren also, over all six days. Our absolute performance level matches what we expected from winter gains, and this is a positive sign on the correlation between our facilities and the track, an aspect which will be crucial in the very aggressive development plan that we have put in place. 

Finally, our competitiveness in an extremely competitive peloton is currently very difficult to assess, but we look forward to resuming the debates. »

Final session of #F1Testing currently, @OconEsteban at the wheel!#RSspirit pic.twitter.com/KKl5EhdPMS

- Renault F1 Team (@ RenaultF1Team) February 28, 2020

Renault has in total accomplished 743 laps of the Catalan route, or 3 km covered in two weeks, with a slight majority for Esteban Ocon (376 loops) over his teammate Daniel Ricciardo (367).

“I'm pretty happy with my day and it was just a bonus to finish the morning session at the top of the timesheet, specified the Australian. It's a nice way to end the pre-season testing, but they're just tests and you have to know how to keep your wits about you. 

In the morning, we resolved some issues from the day before and our overall week was positive. We improved the overall balance of the car, made set-up changes and experienced good reliability.

I think we've traveled more kilometers on the Viry engine benches than ever before. With our results from these two weeks of testing, these are all encouraging signs before the start of the season in Australia. »

His new French comrade was also in a cheerful mood. “It was a very good day and the car seemed to perform very well. Like yesterday, we continued in the right direction and car Today seemed to be at the best of his abilities over these two weeks, so I am quite satisfied. 

End of our pre season test, feeling ready for the Australian GP! # EO31 pic.twitter.com/k2EgdQxQxJ

- Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) February 28, 2020

We made a few test pit stops towards the end of our run and it was nice to get back to it with a very consistent team. Overall it was a very positive day and I'm happy with how everything went. 

It feels good to finish the tests like this and with a lot of laps on the clock. There are areas we need to work on, but I feel ready for the first race in Melbourne. »