F1 News

It will take years for Renault to bridge the gap to the top three

It will take years for Renault to "bridge the gap" to the top three

17-04-2019 09:38
3

After Daniel Ricciardo scored his first points of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix, Cyril Abiteboul has brought the Renault team back down to earth, insisting it is going to take several years to reach the level of the top three.

Renault finished as best of the rest in 2018 fending off Haas with the partnership of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Sainz was replaced by Ricciardo for the 2019 season and much was expected, however, it hasn’t turned out that way with the team struggling for pace and reliability.

In an interview on FormulaPassion.it Abiteboul spoke about the reliability issues they have faced, saying: “Nico had a problem with the MGU-K, it is difficult because it means that we are not totally out of our reliability problems.

“It was a software problem related to all the changes we made to react to the defects of the beginning of the season.

On the result in China, the Frenchman said: “It's good for the team, but it was a frustrating race.

“It allows us to forget Bahrain and start like in Melbourne, where Nico came in seventh, but we have to do better in all aspects.

“We are a little slower than we would have liked, but we have to work and not complain, it is a multi-year job to reduce and thus bridge the gap.”