Kevin Magnussen says Renault knew 2016 would be a tough season, after the French manufacturer’s takeover of the Lotus team at the end of 2015.
Lotus struggled financially during the second half of last year, with Renault having to build the Enstone-based outfit back up and tackle an underdeveloped car.
Magnussen has admitted the team knew the transitional 2016 season would be a difficult one, with focus on the future rather than outright performance.
“I would say it has matched the expectation,” he said on the season so far. “We knew it was going to be a tough year, because the car that Renault took over from Lotus was very underdeveloped.
“Renault, at the beginning of the year, was behind on engine power; so going from a Mercedes engine to a Renault was a little bit of a step back. Renault has done a great job to improve the engine.
“We’ve got more out of the car but haven’t really improved it in terms of getting more downforce, because the focus has been on next year’s car back at the factory.
“It was going to be a transition year, where the focus was on the future and not so much on this year in terms of performance, so I think we’ve got out of it what we could.”
Nico Hulkenberg was recently confirmed at Renault and Magnussen hopes to be his team-mate, adding he is optimistic he won’t have to wait long to find out about his future.
“I hope I can stay on as his team-mate,” he admitted. “That’s my target and that’s what I hope is going to happen.
“Hopefully it won’t be too long before we will be able to announce what’s going to happen – either/or – so we’ll just do this race and focus on driving and enjoying my time in the car and we’ll see what happens.”
