05/09/2016
NEWS STORY
With 21 development tokens remaining, Renault looks to produce an engine upgrade for Singapore.
At a time Ferrari has used the last of its engine development tokens, thrifty old Renault still has 21 to spend.
And while attention is now almost fully focussed on 2017, when the token system will be scrapped, the French manufacturer has admitted that there will be further upgrades this season.
"We still have some more to come for this year," technical director Remi Taffin told Autosport. "Maybe in Singapore we'll have a bit more and we'll see what we get by the time we get to the end of the season.
"Right now we're fully focused on next year," he admitted, "but the development we get for the next race or the race after have already been planned. We hope that it will be a tenth or two-tenths (gain) if we get what we think we will get."
Following the problems of 2015, Renault came into 2016 with a new specification unit, the only upgrades since then coming in Bahrain and then Monaco. Asked if Singapore will be the last upgrade of 2016, Taffin admitted: "There could be some more to come.
"When we have something that is quicker, we don't leave it on the shelf for the sake of having it for next year," he added."
The power straights of Monza left the Renault power unit, and thereby Red Bull, fully exposed, though it is not just the nature of the track that excites Christian Horner as he looks ahead to Singapore.
"We have a few little bit and pieces, and I hear there may be a couple of tokens spent as well," he told Motorsport.com. "Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Mexico, theoretically, are all tracks that should be reasonable for us."