Renault will look to confirm its driver line-up for 2017 at the "beginning of September" according to team principal Fred Vasseur.
The Enstone outfit inherited its current line-up of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer after the two signed contracts with Lotus before Renault agreed its takeover of the team.
However Vasseur isn't ruling out keeping one or both of them next season and although their results haven't set the world alight, he reckons both have improved under difficult circumstances.
"It’s not easy for them either," he told the official Formula 1 website. "I see both of them improving. Keep in mind that Jo [Palmer] is a rookie and Kevin [Magnussen] did only one season before – and that was two years ago."
Vasseur says Renault must look for a driver that can lead the team and motivate its workforce and expects to make a final decision next month.
"If you look at the success stories of the past, success was always built around a driver: Schumacher and Ferrari, Vettel and Red Bull, Lewis and Mercedes, and also Alonso and Renault in the past – so the driver is important," he added.
"A driver is not only about performance, but about being capable of leading a team. Right now we have more or less a thousand people in the team, if you take Viry and Enstone together, and that needs some sort of emotional leadership – and that is the job for a driver! We need a driver who is super-motivated and able to super-motivate everybody else."
"We will probably do it [make a decision] at the beginning of September."
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