Abiteboul: “A start to the season not up to par”

Renault will have to raise the bar at the Chinese GP this weekend. The Losange only occupies 7th place in the Manufacturers' Championship, two points behind Haas after suffering a double abandonment in Bahrain while Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenerg were in the Top 10.

Reliability is still the Achilles heel of the French team, as confirmed Cyril Abiteboul.

“The start of the 2019 season did not live up to our high expectations, confided the Frenchman. Our performances are good enough to allow our drivers to progress into the Top 10 and reduce the gap on the top teams compared to last year, but we suffered from reliability concerns. »

“We are approaching China with caution, but with a determination to fully enter the season. This is an important market for the team and also for the F1 with this 1000th Grand Prix », added Cyril Abiteboul.

Renault took advantage of the brief break between the two races to review its copy before heading into the third round of the season.

“We will have new features on the bodywork as well as improvements to the braking and suspension, said Nick Chester, the chassis technical director of Losange. The Bahrain trials were clearly positive. We worked well on the settings with Daniel (Ricciardo) and tested different elements with him and Jack (Aitken). We were able to complete most of our program despite the rain on the first day. »