Renault team boss Frederic Vasseur has said he will not set targets for the team at this stage of the project, he will instead make sure progress behind the scenes continues at its current pace.
Having only officially taken over the team a week ago, Vasseur knows the team is currently going through a transitional period following two disappointing seasons supplying both Lotus and Red Bull with engines/
Vasseur told ESPN: “It is not important in terms of ranking.”
“We know the situation and we only took on the company on the 19th of December, so the purpose of me is not to say P9, P7 or P5. The first objective is to build up a strong team and build up a base for the next seasons.”
Having taken over Lotus after a troubling but competitive year, Vasseur suggested it could take Renault up to five years to see the same kind of success that Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have enjoyed.
“We have to take time to be a competitive team. We had a tough year last year, but even at the end they were not far in terms of performance and in Spa they were on the podium. The basics are there and we have to take care to build up a new team.”
“If you have a look in the past, from the cycle of Red Bull and Ferrari, they took five years to be champion … and the same even for Mercedes, which started as world champions [after Brawn GP’s success in 2009]. I think it is a normal cycle.”
