Renault has released new images of its 2015 power unit which will be supplied to both Red Bull and Toro Rosso this season.
The French manufacturer struggled throughout 2014 and was down on outright power when compared to Mercedes, whilst it also struggled with reliability, particularly its ERS system.
Following a restructure at their Viry facility, chief technical officer Rob White is confident they have made “significant” steps forward on both performance and reliability.
“First and foremost we need to run reliably, be quick and closer to front,” he said. “Our honest expectation is that we will make a decent improvement but it is difficult to quantify the gain relative to our competitors who will also progress.
“What we can say is that we are on course to make a significant performance step and resolve the principal reliability weaknesses by the time we get to the first race.”
Speaking about what’s changed with the new power unit, White explained that a major overhaul has taken place with very few carry over parts between 2014 and 2015.
“We have made some fundamental changes to gain performance and reliability. We have upgraded every system and subsystem, with items that will give the most performance prioritised,” he said.
“The principal changes involve the internal combustion engine, turbocharger and battery. The ICE will have a new combustion chamber, exhaust system concept and variable trumpets, as permitted by the 2015 regulations. The compressor is more efficient, while the energy recovery systems are able to deal with more severe usage.
“The 2014 unit was already well placed in its centre of gravity, however we have tidied up the packaging to give greater ease of integration into the chassis. Additionally many systems and functions have been rationalised and simplified to further ease the task. In short, there are very few carry over pieces between the 2014 and 2015 power units.”
