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Renault Won't Fund Themselves Into Top 3

13:26, 16 Mar 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Renault CTO Bob Bell has said that Renault will not bankroll their way into title contention, as the 'big three' are in "another league".

Since Renault came back into F1 by buying out Lotus at the end of 2015, the Enstone-based team have been very active in driver recruitment and in upgrading the team's facilities. In their first year back in 2016, the team ended ninth, followed by sixth last season.

The French team definitely have the funds to compete with the so-called 'big three', but chief technical officer Bob Bell says the team need to prove their worth before doing so.

"Our team is managed in a very sensible way, all the way from the top," Bell explained. "We ended sixth last year in the championship. We need to be able to comfortably get fourth, and maintain it. Force India are currently doing that, so we should be able to do the same with similar resources."

"Until we do that and show Renault that we're capable of doing it, they won't increase our budget in any way. We have to prove ourselves."

"Once we do that, we can talk how we can improve to take on the top three and talk about what it takes, because Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are in a league of their own in terms of resources."