Renault’s display through the Australian Grand Prix was not representative of the inherent performance of the R.S.19, according to team boss Cyril Abiteboul.
Renault, fourth in last year’s Constructors’ Championship, has targeted reeling in Formula 1’s top three teams but was in the midst of the midfield action in Melbourne.
Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo failed to make Q3, qualifying 11th and 12th respectively, while the Australian’s home race was wrecked by sustaining front-wing damage on the run to Turn 1.
Hulkenberg went on to finish seventh, behind only Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in the midfield scrap but classified only marginally in front of a gaggle of other midfield racers.
“We have mixed feelings and a contrast of positive and negatives,” said Abiteboul.
“The main negative was qualifying, where we had a number of issues that impacted our potential and starting position.
“That made Daniel’s first race complex and we tried to recover positions at the start but we ultimately had to retire his car due to the damage.
“Nico managed to turn around the situation and had a very strong race. He was very smart and drove a good race to finish seventh.
“We know the car has much more pace than we have shown, especially in qualifying.
“It will be the priority of the next race to extract more from the initial platform with a smoother execution across the weekend while we work on our planned upgrades.”
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