10/05/2019
NEWS STORY
While most of the updates brought to Barcelona this weekend are of the aerodynamic variety, Ferrari and Monza have also sought to upgrade their power units.
Though the Maranello outfit, in its efforts to halt Mercedes run of 1-2s (and titles) has introduced its spec-2 unit four weeks early, Renault, though not going full spec-2, has brought a significantly updated unit.
Following a hit and miss start to Renault's 2019 campaign, earlier this week team boss Cyril Abiteboul admitted that the French manufacturer was looking to "reset" its efforts.
"The start of the European segment of the 2019 season is an opportunity for us to reset," he said. "Overall, it's been a tough start to the year and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix capped off a run of results that fell short of our expectations.
"We know we are capable of much more," he continued, "and we need to target clean weekends and races to make the most of our potential. To do so, we have work to do on all sides of our operation; chassis and engine on and off track, and work with the drivers to allow them to reach their respective capacities.
"We are motivated as ever to strive for more and we aim for a full recovery in competitiveness in Spain," he added. "We know that the midfield is tight, but this also creates opportunities. We've seen that fortunes can change in an instant so we go to Barcelona hungry to get our season campaign going."
The upgrade is aimed at boosting both performance and reliability and while Daniel Ricciardo had access to it for today's opening session, teammate Nico Hulkenberg and the McLaren duo will not run it until FP3. Indeed, the units for the Woking outfit arrived overnight.
"It's mainly for reliability, basically," said Ricciardo of the upgrade. "I don't know how much detail or what parts have changed, but it's a V6," he joked."
Asked for further details, he replied: "Some materials, I know what, but I don't know how much I can say, have been changed to help reliability.
"For now that's the target, but if we see it's viable then we can start pushing the power curve and other things people do in qualifying."
Along with the new ICE, Ricciardo takes on a new turbocharger and MGU-H, while Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris will take on new control electronics.
Tomorrow's new unit will move Nico Hulkenberg on to his third ICE of the season, as will be the case with Sainz.