10/02/2010
NEWS STORY
2010 is the fourth year of the partnership between Red Bull and Renault. The current compulsory freeze on engine development will continue for 2010, yet with the calendar expanding from 17 to 19 races, the forthcoming season will bring new challenges for the Renault team working in Viry-Chatillon. Fabrice Lom explains why.
"The engine is homologated which means its specification is fixed, unless the FIA authorises any changes. The engine freeze means we have to gain permission from the FIA for any modifications and disclose full details of the change to them. The principal changes we have made are: countermeasures for reliability problems, minor changes for installation (including suppression of KERS), supplier requirements and cost-containment measures. In addition, the engine had to be validated for use in 2010. We have the same quota of eight engines per car for the entire season, which has increased this year to 19 races from 17, so, on average, the engines must do more km. The cars will also be quicker in 2010 than in 2009, so the duty cycle on the engine will be increased. Refuelling is eliminated, so we aim to be able to run lean to reduce fuel consumption for longer during the race.
"We're often asked what we have done over the winter to overcome our 2009 reliability issues, yet we didn't wait until the winter to start working on this. As soon as we had the first failure we set about understanding why it had happened, working to prevent it from happening again, although in F1 you never have the assurance of 100% reliability. The engines are very complicated and we work hard to improve the chance of full reliability.
"I enjoy working with Red Bull Racing and feel very much part of both Renault Sport and Red Bull Racing. We have had some difficult times due to reliability issues and there was a question mark over the engine deal at the end of 2009, but I think the way we managed the situation proved we are a strong team. If you had offered me second in the 2009 championship at the start of the year, I would have taken it. But, getting so close to the World Championship and then being beaten by another young team makes me much hungrier and in 2010 we will be doing all we can to win."