Renault engine chief Remi Taffin claims the team has found more than half-a-second in performance from their power unit upgrades over the winter break.
Since the introduction of hybrid power units in 2014, Renault has struggled immensely to get to grips with the new V6 power units, suffering constant reliability and performance issues.
Following on from the disappointment of the new power unit, Renault went away and worked hard to rectify the issues and upgrade this latest specification engine in a bid to close the gap by half between Renault and Mercedes.
“Now we’ve got to a point where we know we can get there,” said Taffin.
“The concepts are on the table, we have some proven facts from the dynos, and we proved that bringing more than half a second over the winter is visible. We did it.
“To be fair it’s very difficult to compare to Mercedes. They are hiding their games and obviously going to raise it when we get to Q3.
“I guess relatively we should be closer to them, but the gap will still be there and it’s fair to say – depending on how we assess this season and the steps we can fit in – the aim is still to be starting ’17 in a position to be fighting with them, if we are able to produce overall a good car.
“If we are still working with Red Bull maybe they could [also] be contenders again.
“I don’t think they are going to be losing their skill in building winning cars.”
Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul has also had his say on the increase in performance confirming this half a second increase is not the end of the performance increase Renault wants to see this year.
“We are aiming to gain one second over the season engine-wise. That’s the target, that’s the plan.”
