Renault want 2017 MGU-K back as ‘early as possible’

Having reverted to last year’s MGU-K following reliability concerns, Renault are hoping to have the 2017 version back in the cars “as early as possible.”

Running into some reliability issues during pre-season testing, Renault opted to use last year’s MGU-K at the start of this year’s championship.

All three Renault-powered teams; Renault, Red Bull and Toro Rosso; have therefore been running the 2016 spec.

Renault, though, are hoping to have the new, lighter 2017 version back in the cars as soon as possible.

“We are planning to bring back the 2017 one as early as possible,” F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul told Autosport.

“As you know, the [power of the] MGU-K is governed by regulation – 120KW – so it is not like we can change that.

“But there is weight, there is a little bit of cooling and a little bit of the condition that we can use it.

“All of that was slightly improved with the 2017 one, but it is not a game changer.”

With reports suggesting that Renault could have the 2017 MGU-K back by the Russian GP, Abiteboul was asked if it would be fitted before the second batch of engines were used.

He replied: “Absolutely.

“You know we have the mix and match possibility in the engine, so we are not locked into what we have.

“We will be bringing it as early as we can.”