Renault are far more confident of a successful 2015 season following a successful Jerez test in which the engine manufacturer hit “almost all the objectives” they set themselves.
The French company struggled throughout 2014 due to a number of issues ranging from reliability to outright power. However a major redesign has given them confidence that this year will be much improved.
“We’ve wiped the slate clean this year and have new, aggressive targets. This week was the first step and we have hit nearly all the objectives we set ourselves,” Renault Sport’s director of operations, Remi Taffin, said.
“The primary goals were to fully integrate the power unit into our partners’ chassis, eliminate the gremlins and then run as much as possible. We can be relatively satisfied at this stage. The Toro Rosso has been running particularly well and is representative of the mileage we need to achieve this season.”
Toro Rosso and Red Bull covered a combined 2,400km over the four days, with only one concern arising in the form of small metallic shaft related to the Renault ERS water pump. Renault described it as a “stupid part” which would be changed for Barcelona, allowing them to now concentrate on performance.
“With our targets generally hit, we can look forward to the next test in Barcelona,” he added. “We want to move more to the performance aspect of the power unit in this test and run in a specification closer to that we will run in Melbourne, of course still keeping a very close eye on reliability.”
