11/07/2017
NEWS STORY
Cyril Abiteboul, Renault Sport Racing Managing Director: Silverstone promises to be a special weekend for the Renault Sport Racing family. Sunday 16th July will be particularly memorable as it marks the 40th anniversary, to the day, of Renault's first Formula 1 Grand Prix when the RS01, pioneered by Jean-Pierre Jabouille, graced the legendary British circuit. Of course, this ignited Renault's passion for Formula 1, and 40 years and masses of success later, we are still going with the same grit on the grid today.
We left Austria with mixed feelings after a weekend which highlighted a number positives, whilst underlined the areas which require improvement. We are satisfied with Jolyon's race, even though we didn't secure any points, an impressive outing from him means he has the confidence going into his home Grand Prix. Jolyon needs to be better placed on the grid, which of course helps for a better Sunday. This is one of his targets and we hope to see him improve in that area.
Sunday for Nico in Austria was increasingly difficult and he was unfortunately hampered at the start. The anti-stall system on his car kicked in which put him to the back by the first corner and severely damaged his race. We need to investigate why this happened and ensure it doesn't occur again. We tried something different with Nico's strategy after he struggled on the Supersoft tyres, but in the end it did not quite work out. Again, all for review and part of our ongoing development.
As well as reflecting over our forty-year history at Silverstone we will also be looking very much to the future and we will unveil a new garage. The garage at a Grand Prix is where all the race weekend work takes place to the cars and it's also a showroom to our participation in Formula 1.
The British Grand Prix marks the beginning of a sequence of strong chassis developments and I hope to see the installation progress on the upcoming races. It's an important few weeks before the mid-season break and it's vital that our hard work is maintained.
Silverstone is located a short drive from our Enstone base so we look forward to welcoming many friends and family to come join us for a cup of tea. We hope for all to be able to celebrate a positive result on Sunday.
Chief Technical Officer Bob Bell wants to ensure the team make a swift return to the points at the British Grand Prix on a track which can throw up a number of surprises.
What challenges does Silverstone present?
Bob Bell: It's a flowing circuit, quite different to what we have seen so far this season, so it will be an interesting benchmark. As a circuit, it's fast with numerous high speed corners. It's not the smoothest circuit, but it doesn't have particularly nasty kerbs like Austria which gave us bodywork damage. It's not as hard on brakes as Austria, but it puts a lot of energy on the tyres, especially the left-hand side so you usually get left-front graining amidst other issues.
It will be interesting to see how the Medium compound goes around Silverstone. Sometimes drivers don't like the softer compounds, they prefer the more robust tyre for the high-speed turns, so we will have to wait and see. The layout will test our car's balance as it has shown a propensity to be a bit nervous in the high speed corners, so that's something we'll be monitoring.
Ultimately for us, we are midway through the season and we have a lot to do to make up for the second half.
What are your thoughts post Austria?
BB: It was a disappointment as we went there expecting more. It's a hard circuit in many ways, especially on tyres and good performance in the race is down to tyre management. We had a difficult start which put Nico on the back-foot. Jo got within striking distance from the points, which was a strong effort from him.
We are analysing Nico's problem. It sits very squarely between the engine and the clutch and gearbox. These problems can be quite widespread so we need to take our time to analyse the data carefully and fully understand the issue and see what to do next. We need to perform and start scoring points again on a regular basis. That's the aim, it always is. We will try hard at Silverstone to come home with some points and do justice to the 40th year anniversary celebrations.