22/07/2016
NEWS STORY
With 21 development tokens remaining - compared to Honda's 10, Mercedes 11 and Ferrari's 3, it had been expected that sooner or later Renault would make a big development step, some suggesting that it might come in Japan.
Indeed, with the Monaco upgrade thought to be worth around half-a-second a lap, with so many tokens still available it was thought the French manufacturer might introduce a couple of major steps before season end.
Speaking in Hungary today however, Renault's engine technical director Remi Taffin said there will be no further development of this year's engine, instead the focus will be on 2017.
"The big step we will have will be next year's engine, race one," he told reporters. "Until we get to the end of the season now we will be working on the specification we have now, trying to extract the most out it, but there won't be any more let's say big step as we had for race one (Australia) and six (Monaco)."
Asked how satisfying development of the power unit has been thus far this year, compared to the nightmare of 2015, he said: "I think it only be a good satisfaction, because where we were coming from was a difficult year last year and now we can see the improvement on track and everything we got out from the factory to the track was working well, so that was a good step forward, either first race or actually Monaco/Montreal specification we introduced.
"It's all working well," he added. "I just have to say we're on it, but we have a good way to go."
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