The results are not doing justice to the speed of the Renault RS17, which has been shown as the single fastest of the intermediate group since its last developments introduced at Silverstone.
But the fragile reliability, the strategic errors and a poor performance in the pit lane, have prevented their pilots have achieved all the points at your fingertips. In Great Britain and Belgium, Nico Hülkenberg was able to maximize their opportunities to get two sixths positions, but in Hungary the problems prevented, while in Monza the characteristics of the circuit gave him an advantage insurmountable to the teams with Mercedes engine and Ferrari.
But the rest of the races will be conducive to a car aerodynamically brilliant, that Cyril Abiteboul expected that the position currently occupied by Williams, is accessible at the end of the season. “With seven races to complete, mainly depends on our ability to neutralize that difference. We need to create a little momentum, and to bring together some consistent results with both cars in the top ten. Singapore will be vital to start this trend”.
Williams is currently fifth with 55 points, while Renault is eighth with 34. A difference difficult to neutralize, but not impossible if the team starts to perform to the maximum of the possibilities of the car. There are even options that Jolyon Palmer, who has not yet been scored, to be replaced by Carlos Sainz for Renault can to have two riders able to add for the constructors championship.
Renault was very strong at Spa-Francorchamps despite the long straights, but in Monza the lower power of its engine was too much ballast in front of Force India, Williams and Haas.
Nick Chester, Technical Director of the department of chassis, it considers that the circuits are visiting will be a point in favor of Renault. “There are circuits of very low downforce, we have good potential to be strong in the next three races of asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Japan)”.
There are circuits of very low downforce, we have good potential to be strong
The british engineer notes that there has been stagnation since Silverstone and the team has found a way to improve that until that moment was the weak point of the car: the rhythm of the race. “We have continued to improve the car, that is positive. From Silverstone, the car has been a little more competitive. Budapest and Spa kept us as the fourth fastest car on pace. We were not so quick in Monza, but in the following races we should get back to the level of performance of Spa”.
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