Lessons learned for underprepared Renault

Editor

Outside the points in Melbourne, Renault MD Cyril Abiteboul concedes the team went into the grand prix lacking “mileage and preparation.”

Jolyon Palmer’s nightmare Australian Grand Prix weekend ended in retirement with the Brit parking his car on lap 15 having suffered brake issues.

His team-mate Nico Hulkenberg had a much better weekend, and Sunday afternoon, as he qualified P12 and found himself fighting for the points in the closing laps.

The German, though, lost out to Force India’s Esteban Ocon, crossing the line in 11th place.

“This first grand prix of the season under these new regulations has delivered several lessons,” explained Abiteboul.

“Our race result highlights that we were not as well prepared as our opposition and our lack of mileage and preparation, both during pre-season testing and during this weekend, meant we suffered.

“We have learnt that in this new Formula 1 era everything needs to be perfectly executed, as it is very difficult to gain track position. We needed to be stronger at the start, in our execution of our strategy, in our pit stops and with our car set-up and balance.

“Although there were very few laps of clean air to demonstrate it, we feel that our car-engine-driver combination allows us to be in the group that we were targeting to race against. At every race, we should be in a position to fight for Q3 on Saturday and to fight for points on the Sunday.

“Looking forward, our first priority for Shanghai is to improve our reliability and from there we should be in a stronger position.”