Mixed feelings at Renault

“No big differences”. The observation of Daniel Ricciardo seemed clear after the first runs last Friday in Brazil. The Australian pilot Red Bull Racing benefited last weekend at Interlagos from the latest specification of the Power Unit Renault, but did not appear entirely satisfied with the performance of the French bloc.

“The positive point is that the engine is reliable, and we were able to evolve all day, so we accumulated kilometers and good information. » added Ricciardo, who however failed to get ahead of his teammate Daniil Kvyat in qualifying, before finishing just outside the points on Sunday, little helped by the penalty resulting from the use of the new engine.

In the Renault clan, we concede that the performances displayed in Brazil did not reach the expected level. « Reliability was there, which was unfortunately not the case for the expected progress.. We were still able to accumulate the data and we will analyze it for the last race and the off-season. » comments Rémi Taffin, Renault Sport operations director.

It now remains to be seen whether this data will be useful for Red Bull in 2016, as the Austrian team has still not announced the name of its engine supplier.

Find the report and analysis of the Brazilian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in São Paulo, in issue 2038 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version, and on newsstands tomorrow.