After what was a nightmare weekend for Jolyon Palmer, the Renault Managing Director believes that the team’s lack of preparation for the season is to blame for the team’s shortcomings in Australia. However, he says that the team will be fighting for points this season if the team can combat the reliability issues.
Nico Hülkenberg had an ok showing in the race, starting and finishing in P11. He said that the team is “firmly in the midfield” and that he enjoyed his battle with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso during the race. On the other side of the garage, things went quite poorly for Jolyon Palmer, bringing an early end to a bad weekend for the driver. Early in the race, his brakes stuck on. It was originally believed to just be a minor system glitch, but when it happened again it force the team to retire from the race on lap 15.
Despite the reliability issues from Palmer, the Renault team’s Managing Director, Cyril Abiteboul, says that the car should be able to fight for points during the season:
“This first Grand Prix of the season under these new regulations has delivered several lessons. Our race result highlights that we were not as well prepared as our opposition and our lack of mileage and preparation, both during pre-season testing and during this weekend, meant we suffered today. We have learnt that in this new Formula 1 era everything needs to be perfectly executed, as it is very difficult to gain track position. We needed to be stronger at the start, in our execution of our strategy, in our pit stops and with our car set-up and balance.
Although there were very few laps of clean air to demonstrate it, we feel that our car-engine-driver combination allows us to be in the group that we were targeting to race against. At every race, we should be in a position to fight for Q3 on Saturday and to fight for points on the Sunday. Looking forward, our first priority for Shanghai is to improve our reliability and from there we should be in a stronger position.”
The 2016 season was a restructuring year for the Renault team, as they adjusted to their return to Formula One. The team consistently finished outside of the points, usually in P14 or P15. Over the course of the season, the team only collected 8 points from finishes in Russia, Singapore and Malaysia. This was enough to put them ahead of Sauber and Manor in the World Constructors’ Championship, but left them 21 points behind the Haas ahead.
The team will be looking for more points finishes throughout the year and a stronger position in the midfield by the end of the season.
Grosjean: “I felt I was faster than the Williams”
Weekend Summary: 2017 Australian GP
