Renault Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul says reliability, rather than outright performance, remains the primary concern for the manufacturer during the opening stages of the new Formula 1 campaign.
Renault identified an ERS problem during testing, which it rectified prior to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but did not run its 2017-specification MGU-K amid concerns over its reliability.
Jolyon Palmer was also hampered by a brake problem, which prematurely ended his weekend, and Abiteboul is conscious of the need to improve reliability across the coming races.
“At short term, the main point is reliability,” Abiteboul explained ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.
“We didn’t have any ERS [problems] but we did experience other issues – most notably Jolyon’s brakes in the race – so we clearly have work to do.
“The performance of the power unit seems to be delivering at the level we expected and we know there is more to come.
“In due course we will revert to the 2017-specification MGU-K and we will also introduce upgrades but this will only happen if we achieve the reliability level we need.”
Abiteboul nonetheless believes Renault has shown it can realise its goal of battling for fifth spot in the Constructors’ championship this season, and is eyeing points in China.
“The big positive we take from Melbourne is that we have the pace to be where we want to be: fight for points,” he commented.
“If we do everything right, we will fight for fifth place in the championship by the end of the season.
“In China we want to achieve what we didn’t in Australia; make it into Q3 and finish in the points. It’s a completely different circuit and last year it wasn’t a great race for us so we want to do much better.”
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