Renault e.dams team owner, Jean-Paul Driot, believes that the French marque and reigning Formula E champions have returned to an "acceptable level" after their race-long scrap with Techeetah at last weekend's Berlin E-Prix.
Renault entered Season Four as the clear favourites after dominating Formula E since its inaugural season back in 2014, however, the manufacturer has so far failed to match their intended impact in the all-electric single seater series' present campaign.
With three races remaining this season, Renault remains winless, with a season-best result coming at January's Marrakesh E-Prix where Season Two champion Sebastien Buemi finished second to Mahindra Racing's Felix Rosenqvist.
At the Flughafen Tempelhof circuit in Berlin, Renault secured its largest points haul since the Mexico City E-Prix, with Buemi narrowly missing out on a fourth podium finish this season after battling Jean-Eric Vergne for third.
“Fourth place is always the most frustrating," said Driot.
"On two occasions Seb [Buemi] managed to get past Jean-Eric[Vergne]. Even if he was repassed it shows that we’re capable of fighting with the leader of the championship on an equal footing with the same car.
"We’re now back at an acceptable level and I find that the whole team, drivers and engineers, are working in a more serene ambience. I think we’re on the right track,” he added.
Speaking to Motorsport Monday post-race, Buemi admitted that he was disappointed to miss out on a podium finish:
"I had a good start. I managed to pass Felix [Rosenqvist] and then I passed Jerome [d’Ambrosio] quickly on, then JEV [Jean-Eric Vergne].
"I had a good run with the first car, but then towards the end of the first stint I started to struggle a little bit and then the second stint, we overtook [Oliver] Turvey but basically, I was not really competitive, not at the level of the Techeetah or Audi of course.
"So at the end of the day, P4 is not the end of the world but I’m a bit surprised with the gap to the Audi and I’m a bit disappointed to miss out on the podium.”
While Buemi claimed 12 points, his team-mate, Nico Prost, failed to finish inside the top 10 after a difficult weekend where his problems arose in qualifying:
"I mean the quali was a disaster to be honest. Again, you know, since last year it has been really difficult in quali and today was even worse, you know," Prost told Motorsport Monday.
"Then the race was really good, like [I] overtook a lot of cars. Unfortunately, the cars I overtook in the first stint overtook me back in the pitstop and because we are at the end they all came back and I had to overtake them all over again but I think on pace we could actually have finished in the points from starting at the back.
"We’re not putting together the things and we need to understand. The pace is still there, the motivation is still there so hopefully we can turn it around.”
Renault currently occupy sixth in the Teams' Championship with 89 points as an attempted title defence is over for manufacturer's final season of competition in Formula E.
