06/05/2016
NEWS STORY
Renault is one of several teams aiming to bring a raft of updates to Spain, including a B-spec power unit.
The introduction of the new engine, confirmed by Chassis Technical Director, Nick Chester, on Friday, will be good news not only for the works drivers but also Red Bull, which the French manufacturer is hoping to retain as a customer in 2017.
As his team concluded a filming day at Silverstone, Chester revealed the updates the team has in store next week.
"For the race we have an updated rear wing as well as some updates for the front wing," he confirmed. "For the test we have a full raft of things to try; new suspension, further aero updates over various areas of the car, some mods to cooling as well as evaluating the B-spec power unit, so we should have a full two days."
As the team confirmed that Esteban Ocon will drive Jolyon Palmer's car in FP1 next weekend, and that he will also share post-GP testing duties with Kevin Magnussen, team boss Cyril Abiteboul insisted that last weekend's race in Russia, which saw the team score its first points of the season, was a turning point.
"Getting points was a good fillip for the team after the tough race in China," he said. "We were reliable and competitive enough to out-race our closest competition and that took a lot of hard work.
"That said, we acknowledge it took a cocktail of circumstances and repeating the result in Spain will be tough. However, Barcelona is the start of our development program and we will see some new developments coming through in the race, with several others scheduled for the test afterwards.
"We look at this race as a marker in the sand: the exit point of our recovery from the takeover and the first race as 'our' team. It will start small, but I'm confident we will gain momentum as we go forward."
It is understood Renault is working to ensure that Red Bull also has access to the B-spec engine.