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Renault approaching last races "as a mini championship"

16:30, 12 Oct 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul has acknowledged that the last four races of the season will be "like a mini championship" for the French team, as they're on the brink of losing out on fourth place in the constructors' championship.

In the first half of the season, Renault looked the clear favourite for the 'best of the rest' title, which is to end fourth in the constructors' championship and/or seventh in the drivers' championship. This is because the top three teams, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes are so much quicker than the rest of the field that they're in a battle of their own.

Renault were more consistent than Haas and Force India, their main competitors, but the French outfit seems to have lost their edge recently, as they're under a lot of pressure in both championships with just four races to go.

"Fourth place will be hard fought in the final stretch of the season, but we are optimistic about the next meeting in the United States," Abiteboul is quoted by F1only.

"Our race pace is clearly competitive with other teams in the pack, but we have to improve our pace qualifying.

"We are coming to the end of our development cycle, as we are focusing more and more on the 2019 projects.

"Our immediate priority is to reach the goals set at the beginning of the year [to finish fourth in the championship].

"To achieve this, we must tackle the last four races as a mini-championship. Austin is our next challenge and we go there determinedly to prove ourselves."

Renault just lead by eight points now, as Haas have been much faster as of late. Force India shouldn't be able to catch up, as they had their points wiped in July and had to start from scratch after a renaming of the team.

Nico Hülkenberg currently shares P7 in the drivers' championship with both Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Pérez as all three of them have 53 points.