Renault believes it has closed the gap to Mercedes since the start of the season, but reckons only a pole position will prove the performance is there.
The French engine manufacturer has had a power deficit since the opening race and has been working tirelessly to catch-up with the leading Mercedes unit.
Three race wins are a sign that things have improved, but Renault’s Remi Taffin knows that they’ve come as a result of Mercedes woes and he is therefore aiming for a pole as evidence of their progress.
“We know we can win races, and we are just in the position to be sure that we can grab this when there is opportunity,” he said.
“But what we are effectively after now is a pole position to show the pure pace – and it would obviously be easier to win a race in this condition.”
Taffin says Renault has achieved what it can with it’s current specification and is comfortable that it can optimise its performance for each race.
However much of their focus is on 2015 when the engine will undergo major changes as the engine freeze is relaxed over the winter season.
“The most effort in terms of achieving what we wanted to achieve is behind us for this year.
“What we now get on track is actually the fruit of this work – and we now have the right direction to go for optimising the performance, plus we are able to repeat this every single race.
“This is the most important thing to us. We know what performance we have got, we know how to get it any time we want.
“So we will try to bring a little bit more race after race until the end of the year.
“But even if the focus is to try to get the most out of this year, we have to focus on next year.”
