Renault: Bit of disappointment over 2018's progress

For Renault, in 2018, they achieved the "best of the rest" status in fourth place; behind the dominant top three of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. But executive director Marcin Budkowski believes his team should have reduced the gap a lot more than they managed to last year.

Renault finished in fourth - however, the French side were 533 points off eventual winners Mercedes.

The team also failed to reach the podium in 2018, with a best result of P5, with both drivers Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg scoring one each in Azerbaijan and Germany respectively.

Renault had originally wished for better progress than this last season, but the team couldn't bridge the 1.5 second (ish) gap in qualifying.

Budkowski insisted Renault are still "rebuilding the team", and believes next season, with the addition of Daniel Ricciardo, could be the season we finally see the best of the Enstone team.

"We do not work for the short-term," Budkowski told Auto Hebdo. "We just don't hire experienced people, but mosly young people coming out of university. We invest in the future.

"We are not looking for immediate results, as we are still rebuilding the team. We could have done better last year if the short-term had been our goal, but rather it is to build a team capable of being world champions.

"After three years of construction, three years of attack and beginning. If the question is 'Did we do a great job in terms of car and development?' the answer is no. Our progress was inherently worse than in 2017 and we are aware of it.

"There is a bit of disappointment at not being able to get closer to the top three, but that drives us to change things in the way we operate."