It will be a while before we see Renault consistently finishing in the top six, according to new recruit Nico Hulkenberg. The German may have said he expected the team to become more competitive when he joined Renault, but that won’t come in 2017.
Instead, he believes next year will be another foundation year for Renault after the team returned to Formula One at the beginning of 2016.
“You have to be realistic,” the German told Motorsport.com. “This year they came from a pretty difficult year. When they bought the team last year they were in a very tricky situation, especially at the beginning of the season, and didn’t really do much in terms of development with this car.”
Renault’s return to Formula 1 as a works team was less than spectacular as the team spent the year redeveloping the Enstone factory after buying out the former Lotus outfit. The team took only three top 10 finishes in 2016 and, though Hulkenberg hopes Renault will have improved from their debut season, he has said he expects top 10 finishes in 2017 to still be a challenge.
“These things take time,” he said. “To build the infrastructure back up, get good people on board and develop the car.”
Hulkenberg’s contract with Renault was a multi-year deal, though, meaning success doesn’t have to be immediate for the German to see the benefits of switching from Force India.
Comments.
Loading comments…