Hülkenberg praises Viry’s responsiveness on the Renault Power Unit

Bahrain, March 2019. Renault experiences a somewhat disastrous Grand Prix with the two Renault RS19s of Daniel Ricciardo et Nico Hulkenberg appearing at the very end of the ranking. The concern in the French clan will crystallize especially around the engine block of the car of Nico Hülkenberg, in reality the victim of a connecting rod problem.

Detailed on the sidelines of the Monaco Grand Prix by Cyril Abiteboul, this serious problem was finally solved by the engineers of Viruses, the driving force behind the French structure. Enough to restore full possession of its means to the French V6 turbo / hybrid, while the previous races had been contested without all the performance of the powertrain.

This return to a “normal” level gives reasons for satisfaction to the drivers, with Ricciardo even mentioning the presence of a real qualifying mode. “They found solutions very quickly, redesigned, remanufactured and made the necessary fixes, comments for his part Hülkenberg on the discipline’s website.

It was quite impressive, and in Monaco we could feel again that the engine had “come back to life” and we were able to fight with all our abilities. So it's very positive. »

Renault had introduced an evolution of its Power Unit in Spain, just like the Team Ferrari, in a hurry to return to the level of its great rival Mercedes, while the initial schedule should have seen the Italian team wait for Canada next week to bring its “evo”.

A Canadian round which could also see Mercedes move into second place in terms of engines, as confided Lewis Hamilton in a press conference after the race. “I know that people at the factory are working on developments, blurted the winner.

In the next race I think we will probably have a new engine. The car will therefore continue to progress as we want. » The competition may already be simmering.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Monaco Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in the Principality, in issue 2218 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version and on newsstands.