Though both Renaults were seen to stop within moments of one another in Bahrain, officially Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo were both classified as finishers, though this gives the French manufacturer little comfort.

In the fourth year since its return as a constructor, Renault should be targeting Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, but the reality is that it is currently behind Alfa Romeo, McLaren and Haas is a midfield battle that could last the whole season.

Neither driver has yet to make it into Q3, though Hulkenberg's drive to seventh, and a possible double points finish in Bahrain - until that double retirement - offers some hope for the months ahead. That said, much more was expected of the French outfit.

"The start of the season has fallen short of our high expectations," admits team boss, Cyril Abiteboul. "Our overall competitiveness is good enough for our drivers to be racing in the top ten and closer to the top teams than last year, but we have suffered from reliability issues."

However, Hulkenberg remains optimistic.

"I would like to take the positives from Bahrain," says the German. "Disappointment can happen in racing, but we move on as a team, learn from what happened and do everything possible to prevent it from happening again.

"We showed we had good race pace," he continued. "There was a lot of overtaking, which we were able to hold our own in and we executed a slick two-stop, together with good pit-stops from the crew.

"We must build on these positives and head into China knowing that if we string together a decent enough week-end, we’re more than capable of leading the midfield."