Renault put a positive spin on testing

Renault are aiming to be the best of the rest by comfortably finishing in P4.

The Renault team finished 6th last year in the constructors championship and are looking to top that and finish 4th at the end of 2018.

Former F1 technical guru Marcin Budkowski will join the team at the beginning of April to help bolster up the teams knowledge and experience.

Technical director Bob Bell said: “Our team is being managed for the very top and in a very sensible way.

“I suppose one way to look at its is to say we were sixth in the championship last year, we need to get ourselves into a position where we can comfortably maintain fourth place in the championship.

“If you look at a team like Force india, they’ve been able to achieve that, so we ought to be able to do that same job with roughly similar resources. That’s clear.

“I think until we can do that and demonstrate to Renault in particular that we’re capable of achieving that then they are not going to start writing cheques for a lot more people an resources.”

The team endured a positive pre-season and only encountered very minor issues despite other teams who use their engines finding major problems.

But having analysed this data, the team admit they are still way off the top three.

“We have to prove ourselves at every step of the way. Once we’ve done that, then we can start having a discussion about what it is going to take to move into the top three, and take on Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull because they are another league again in terms of resources.

“But we are prepared for that, Renault are prepared for that so we will expand to a point where we believe is sensible to be able to consistently fight just outside the top three and be there.

“Then that’s another step to take and another discussion on resources.”