06/07/2016
NEWS STORY
Cyril Abiteboul, managing director: We come to the British Grand Prix after a fantastic weekend of success. The double race wins for Nico Prost were spectacular in themselves, and secured the FIA Formula E title for Renault e.dams in style. Sébastian Buemi had a tougher time to take the Formula E drivers' crown, but showed grit, determination and sheer speed to win. These wins came thanks to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in Renault e.dams and it is a showcase of what is possible from Renault Sport Racing.
Renault Sport Formula One Team is still at a very early stage in its development, but we aim to emulate the success seen in Battersea Park in Formula E in the new few years. Our results at Grands Prix are currently not headline-worthy, but behind the scenes we are making good progress.
Our power unit operation at Viry has been better able to translate the hard work put in over the past years thanks to the strategic changes. It's already paying dividends, with Red Bull's second place at the power sensitive Spielberg track demonstrating, yet again, the steps forward taken so far and the potential for the future.
My focus is now more on making further alignment between Viry and Enstone as well as driving improvements and enhancements to the Enstone operation, which means I will be spending more time in the United Kingdom. What better way to start that than with the always popular British Grand Prix.
Heading from Enstone to Silverstone is just a 45 minute drive so Fred Vasseur (right) is hoping to be able to enjoy some home cheer at the British Grand Prix.
What's the outlook for the British Grand Prix?
Fred Vasseur: In terms of the team it's a circuit we all know very well. The layout should suit our car better than the street courses which caused us so much trouble earlier in the year, especially after we were able to make solid progress over the weekend in Austria.
What will you be looking at for a good result?
FV: Both our drivers were happier with the way their cars were working for them last time out which is a good sign. We were able to see that over the weekend they were able to deliver very similar performances in the sessions and the race. We should have achieved a better result were it not for the unknown factor of the safety car's appearance which was exactly what our strategy didn't need at that time! For Silverstone if we can make good progress over the sessions then a little bit of chance going our way in the race we could be quite well placed to deliver.
What's the importance of your new job title?
FV: Personally, it doesn't affect how I approach the work at hand, however I have been given the title of Team Principal of Renault Sport Formula One Team to clarify and strengthen my role. It simply means that I am the one responsible for the performance and results of the team. I continue attending all races in this role and I will have a greater role in the day to day management of the activities in Viry-Chatillon to ensure everything that side of the equation is working as it should.
An incident-free Austrian race for our boys before coming 'home' to one of the best-known track on the calendar, Nick Chester previews the British Grand Prix.
It was a fairly uneventful weekend for us in Austria, what did we learn from it?
Nick Chester: We worked extensively on securing a good baseline through our Friday set-up work which resulted in both drivers being happy with the balance for the rest of the weekend. Austria is a really smooth track and more 'normal' compared to the three street tracks we experienced recently so it was good to feel that we had our car back to a decent baseline. We were unlucky in both qualifying and the race; Kev had the pace to get into Q2 but we lost out due to the timing of Kvyat's shunt, which was unfortunate. Then both drivers had a reasonable race come Sunday but we could have finished further up without the safety car. We were on a two-stopper and had already made our first pitstop when it was deployed.
Moving on to the British Grand Prix, how are we approaching Silverstone?
NC: We have a few small updates for the Grand Prix as it's back-to-back with Austria which doesn't leave much time. However there is more coming for the test, where we actually have time to evaluate things properly. Silverstone is a track we know very well and we will be working towards having a nice stable car in the high-speed corners, avoiding too much understeer – which can be tricky at Silverstone – and catering for some of the bumpier areas of the circuit.
You mentioned testing, what do we have planned for our two days at Silverstone?
NC: We have a variety of work planned, from a substantial programme on the aero package with new parts to be tested and confirming some of the work we have already done, to suspension work which will include new parts for both the front and rear suspension. It's quite a busy programme.
We will have Jolyon Palmer and Sergey Sirotkin in the car for testing, what do we expect from Sergey?
NC: Sergey has done a great job in GP2 so far and we expect him to do the same for us. He drove our car during free practice in Sochi of course, and we know he is a pretty sensible driver. There will be a good testing programme for him to get through while he is with us.
How is the 2017 programme coming along?
NC: The majority of our work is now focused on 2017. We are at the stage where we are defining the chassis, looking at cooling and suspension layouts and developing bodywork in the wind tunnel. The programme has shifted heavily towards 2017 and we are working through it completely with our power unit colleagues as one team. There is a lot of work on packaging between both sites which is really interesting as there are a lot of opportunities on how we install the power unit in the chassis and how we get the best of both to make a good car.