Renault Sport F1: Melbourne “below our expectations”

The Australian Grand Prix offers a mixed record for Renault Sport F1 which obtained both very convincing results and recurring failures. Red Bull Racing alone represents the situation since Daniel Ricciardo managed to finish in second place (before his exclusion) while Sebastian Vettel abandoned with a mechanical problem on the third lap. Lotus F1 Team was in the most difficulty and only expected to complete a few laps. Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado finally retired after competing for a good part of the race following the failure of the MGU-K (kinetic generator engine). Marcus Ericsson pulled his Caterham to the side mid-race due to a drop in oil pressure. On the other hand, the Toro Rosso have demonstrated flawless reliability with Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat who finished in the top ten.

“Our feelings are necessarily mixed”, comments Rémi Taffin, director of track activities at Renault Sport F1. “We cannot accept our single-seaters abandoning. There is an urgent need to improve reliability overall. It was written that this race was going to be a real baptism of fire, but we still fell short of our expectations and must correct this before the next Grand Prix (in Malaysia, March 30). Some failures share similar characteristics, such as the MGU-K problems at Lotus, but others have no connection between them. This confirms that we must progress in all areas. »

Out of nine single-seaters not classified at the finish of the Australian Grand Prix, six are powered by the Diamond.

Discover the analysis of the Australian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 1952 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.