Renault F1 Team 10 years Behind Rivals

Cyril Abiteboul has said that the Renault F1 team was nearly a decade behind its Formula 1 rivals when it resumed its works team project. The French manufacturer owned the team from 2001-09 and then reacquired ahead of the 2016 season. They clinched the 2005 and 2006 F1 world championships and won grands prix as late as ’08. However, Abiteboul says that by then, the Enstone facility was already suffering from a lack of investment. The problem would soon escalate under its subsequent Genii ownership.

Abiteboul said,”There was clearly a lack of investment under previous ownerships. But also at the end of Renault ownership, in the previous cycle, we really lost opportunities to modernise the place. If you go back into this sort of 2007/2008/2009 period, it was far from being great and it was the start of the lack of investment in Enstone. So we almost need to play catch up since 2007/2008, so that is almost 10 years where F1 has changed completely the universe.”

However, Abiteboul believes that the team is “really not far” from having comparable resources to its rivals again. He continued, “We have a big job to accomplish and as far as I can see we are aligned with that. The infrastructure is coming up, people are coming up, the commercial side – I know it is not super exciting, but it is also important to be able to finance that. We have had a very successful campaign of acquisition of new partners and they believe in the project, they can see the improvement at the factory but also at the track.”

The 2-time constructors champions began a recruitment drive in 2016. Chassis technical director Nick Chester said, “You certainly have to keep a good eye on it to make sure that the departments are communicating well. But actually, I have to say the growth we have had since the end of 2015 has actually worked pretty well. We haven’t really had any big problems of departments not communicating, we have just been able to do more. Some of it is just making sure that the levels in the departments are balanced, so the drawing office can keep up with aero and production can been up with drawing office. Trying to get the resource splits right is a little bit tricky, but given the amount of people we’ve increased by it’s been quite painless.”

Chester was also asked if the Renault F1 team’s Enstone facility was now on a par with rival teams. He replied: “Not just yet. But it is well under way. A lot of the building work is heading into its final stages, and that should be finished off February time. A lot of other infrastructure work is already complete so it is probably 70% there.”