Renault wants to 'switch development to 2021 as soon as possible'

The regulatory revolution which is on the horizon requires the stables to Formula 1 to review their development plan. Renault is no exception and the Losange readily recognizes that attention will very quickly be focused on the 2021 project. 

However, the French manufacturer does not want to ignore the upcoming campaign and has therefore planned an aggressive program of developments at the start of the season to try to regain 4th place in the Manufacturers' championship, the declared objective of the Jaunes-et- Black.

« At some point, however, you will have to be extremely determined, told Cyril Abiteboul from the Renault Workshop on Wednesday. We will have to have the courage to switch to 2021 as soon as possible, regardless of what happens on the track in 2020. 

Afterwards, I cannot allow myself to say: “Don’t look at 2020, wait for 2021.” Me too, I have to reassure myself because if we are not able to resolve this season the aero problems that we experienced in 2019, I don't see why we would release a car from the Madonna in 2021”. 

If we will have to wait for the Barcelona tests next week to get a first real glimpse of the new R.S.20, Marcin Budkowski has already mentioned the guiding ideas which guided its gestation. 

« For the R.S.20, we decided quite early on to make it an evolution of last year's car., said the executive director ofenstone. This may seem a little counterintuitive given the performance of the R.S.19, but there are two reasons for this choice. 

Initially, we wanted to focus on solutions aimed at resolving the weaknesses of 2019 and achieving performance without having to start from scratch. 

It’s a year of regulatory stability on the cusp of upheaval. We wanted to protect our ability to work on the 2021 project. That being said, the 2020 car includes a change in aerodynamic concept with also a lot of work on the mechanical part and the suspensions. 

The objective is to make it more homogeneous and allow pilots to extract its full potential more easily while avoiding this development plateau. 

We will not have all the developments from the first runs in Barcelona, ​​we will have a certain number of developments which will arrive during the second week of testing. Others will be brought to the first race in Australia. We have an aggressive development program at the start of the season ».

Renault may well have its eyes firmly focused on 2021, but the French manufacturer must absolutely regain momentum this year, otherwise it will run out of steam and confidence when it comes time to move on to next season.