23/05/2017
NEWS STORY
While Red Bull eagerly awaits an upgraded engine from Renault, which might not appear until Canada, the French manufacturer insists that ongoing development work is seeing its power units improve at every race and that the new engine isn't the be all and end all the Austrian outfit is making it out to be.
"Frankly, what I want to play down is this sort of focus on the upgrade because the engine is improving every weekend," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com. "We said reliability was the main issue to the performance delivery and improvement and that is exactly the case.
"I give you a clear example," he continued, "we had better reliability.
"We just completed a programme on dyno, this week, on Saturday and on Saturday afternoon there was immediately map-ware for all three teams. It's not black and white, we haven't suddenly jumped Mercedes in terms of power delivery, but that is small improvement. There will be more to come in Monaco and there will be more to come when we introduce power unit number three again. Red Bull, as always, is making wrong communication about performance development.
"What I can guarantee you is, race-by-race, the engine will improve," he insists, "and overall in the season, we have, if you look at the engine software, hardware and also the fuel and lubricants coming from our petroleum partner, I'm sure there is a very decent step to come. "
Having had to revert to the old MGU-K, which is 5kg heavier, Abiteboul admits he is unsure when the revised 2017 version will be introduced.
"An option could be to introduce that with power unit number three," he said.
"Weight was maybe a concern at the start of the season, but as always, most teams have dealt with that. The only thing that MGU-K is bringing is a bit less weight, but it's not something too pressing."
And as Red Bull's frustration becomes ever more vocal, and the threats ever more dire, the Frenchman insists that while Renault is seeking to close the gap to Mercedes it's not going to be any time soon.
"The gap to be fully closed, it's not going to happen this year," he admits. We think it's something for next year, but having said that, we think the step we are planning to make, which we have on the shelf for this year, is going to almost close it completely in the course of the season.
"We already have a very clear idea of next year's engine and the aim we have is to completely close the gap in the course of next season."