Renault Support

[sagi58]

The biggest issue facing each F1 team in 2016

Renault

Be competitive as a manufacturer

Renault faces a big task in its return to the grid. Wounded and humiliated in the last two years, the French manufacturer has been on the back foot since the beginning of the current turbo era. Even last year, a late engine upgrade at the Brazilian Grand Prix was met with criticism from Red Bull and it finished the year a distant third to Mercedes and Ferrari. It is easy to forget Renault powered four of the last six drivers' and constructors' champions. Red Bull's failure to give recognition to its French engine partner became a point of contention when the former world champions then laid the blame for 2014 and 2015's failures squarely at Renault's doorstep. From a PR perspective Renault's return as a manufacturer is a chance to fix the damage done by the breakdown of that relationship and its poor performances in the V6 turbo era, to prove Viry-Chatillon has not forgotten how to make winning engines.

The benefit of being a factory team is the control of everything in-house, everything moving towards a similar goal. The negatives are not being able to deflect blame to a customer team -- failure to eventually deliver a competitive package will be laid squarely (and fairly) at Renault's doorstep. Winning another championship will be a huge challenge, especially with Mercedes enjoying such a strong start, but one Renault must be praised for taking up when walking away from F1 looked like the easier choice at the end of last year. The goal this year must be simple: at the very least stay in front of Honda and claw back the gap to the front. Its first issue will be recovering from last year's deficit and the delay in development which came from its protracted takeover of Lotus.

[LewEngBridewell]

Renault's definitive 2016 livery... I love it!!! Some badly needed colour on the grid.

[overboost]

The Jordan, I mean Renault, sure is a beauty.



Here is the official video of the car 'coming ashore' in Aus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg1kj0E93JA

[sagi58]

Cool video introducing the car...
even if it's a bit theatrical!!

[darwin dali]

F1 ESPN

Renault is preparing to bring its upgraded power unit to the Monaco Grand Prix, one race ahead of schedule.

After successful tests in Barcelona this week there were calls for Renault to introduce its Canada upgrade one race early. Renault's engine technical director Remi Taffin says the manufacturer will now bring as many of the upgraded power units as it can to Monte Carlo.

"The current power unit used since Australia has had several smaller upgrades and all the drivers were very happy with the standard in Spain," Taffin said. "In parallel, we've been working on the new spec since the start of the season but needed to sign off all the parts for reliability and mileage before using on track.

"The tests were very positive and showed it to be more powerful and driveable. We had originally planned to use the new version in Canada when the current units are scheduled to be removed from the cycle, but if we can get the units together and completely validated by Monaco we will use the ones available at this race."

According to Motorsport.com, the speedy introduction of the power unit means there will only be one available for Renault and Red Bull. It is unclear which driver will get it at either team, but if it is done by championship standings the new power units will go to Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen.

Taffin is predicting a performance gain of half a second.

"The power unit we have used since the first race in Australia was really a continuation of the work started in the 'Spec D' power unit we introduced at the tail end of 2015. We explored some concepts in that earlier iteration and the 2016 unit took them further, for example in the turbo.

"This new spec goes even further down the line and also includes significant modifications to the combustion system. It will make the ICE more powerful but also efficient, leading to a gain of around half a second per lap. We've used a small proportion of our token allocation for this upgrade."