Prost: Renault must have “cautious optimism”

How did you find this team?enstone ?

Above all, we must start from an obvious observation: it takes time for a team to be built...Let's be cautiously optimistic...Let's set an objective in relation to this environment. Aiming for 5th place in the 2017 championship is correct, difficult but realistic as Jérôme Stoll said. If the 4th is playable by chance, because it also counts, let's play it, and if it's the 6th let's not be disappointed...

The departure of Frédéric Vasseur (Principal Team of Renault Sport F1 Team) at the start of the year didn't it cause a hole?

Yes, it's a shame, but we can only make one observation. When things go wrong, on one side or the other, you have to draw the consequences. For me it's difficult to judge why it didn't work, but the fact is that Fred is no longer the head of Enstone and the responsibilities now rest on the shoulders of Cyril Abiteboul. Which has the merit of being clear…

Can we imagine an evolution of the races, or even the spectacle?

The fact that the tires deteriorate much less reassures me... The races will undoubtedly be a little clearer, therefore interesting, and the strategies will still be able to be differentiated. Perhaps we should give drivers complete freedom in the choice of their tires rather than imposing two types of tires on them…

Discover the full interview withAlain Prost of 6 pages in n°2106 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms and on kiosks.