Renault wants to focus on reliability for 2018

Criticized at the start of the era of V6 turbo/hybrid Power Units, Renault continues its progress and has enabled Red Bull Racing to return to victory these last two seasons. Significant improvements even if the French engine manufacturer still remains a notch below its rivals Mercedes et Ferrari.

Renault wants to make up for its performance deficit on German and Italian powertrains, but without compromising reliability. "You know I don't want to make any promises, confesses Cyril Abiteboul in Abu Dhabi.

The first thing will be reliability because we have seen this season that you have to walk before you run. I think we've been too often aggressive in trying to bring more power.

Due to our customers' expectations, but also for our own cars, I think we have to take it step by step: first be reliable then accumulate as many kilometers as possible during winter testing. This is important for any chassis builder.

If we get that reliability, I'm extremely comfortable and confident that we have the kind of technological additions to make to the engine in order to make progress and catch up with Mercedes.

It is clear that the plan is to continue to offer an engine capable of winning races. We did it this year. Obviously, we need to do more and we are working hard to make that happen. As I said, with the priority now and during the winter on reliability. »

McLaren-Renault, winning duo?

2018 will also see the French engine manufacturer supply the McLaren team, which will leave Honda after a second story completed without the expected success. The Woking structure, renowned for its often very efficient chassis, should benefit from Renault's progress to move up the hierarchy.

“It seems to me that to compete with these cars (Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull), they have a good chassis, so I don't see why McLaren wouldn't have a good chassis again next year so yeah, I think it should be a solid package, underlines Abiteboul.

And on our side (as a team), we hope and believe that we will fight against McLaren and that should provide an interesting spectacle. Whether it concerns the top places or not will depend on what we do over the winter but I think it should be a Formula 1 interesting to watch. »

Zak Brown, executive director of McLaren, also has high expectations from the change of engine manufacturer for the British team. “We are very confident in the Renault engine, specifies Brown. They have a great history in the sport and have won half of the championships in the last ten, fifteen years.

Of course, it's the story of the complete package: the drivers, the team, the chassis, the Power Unit. We are ready for this. We believe we have the tools we need. I would like to think we're going to have a chance to win. »