Spanish GP An Opportunity for Renault to Set Things Nicely This Season

Renault haven’t exactly set the ball rolling in 2019 as seen so far. Far from finishing close to the top five on the grid, one of the main concerns for 2019 for Renault is the form of Daniel Ricciardo, 3 DNFs in 4 races.

But that said, Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul has maintained that this would rather be an interesting opportunity for his team to set the record straight.

Heading into the 2019 Spanish GP, both Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, no lame talents on the grid albeit two drivers who haven’t really begun their campaign with a bang would be looking to improve.

The thing that excites Cyril Abiteboul the most is that heading into the Spanish GP, the team is expected to bring ‘major upgrades’ for the 66-lap contest, an event aced the most number of times by former Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher.

But that said, how big are these upgrades going to be for Renault, a team whose close competitors on the grid are Alfa Romeo, Haas, and Racing Point?

The lofty pre-season expectations that one had of Renault haven’t really been met so far. So in that regard, one’s expecting the upgrades to play their decisive role at the upcoming Barcelona contest. Thus far, issues like reliability and lack of race pace have hurt the team’s chances so far.

This is an area they’d most likely be keen to turn around.

Mr. Abiteboul was quoted as saying the following on the point of expectations at Spain, “The start of the European segment of the 2019 Formula 1 season is an opportunity for us to reset.” He would further go on to add, “Overall, it’s been a tough start to the year and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix capped off a run of results that fell short of our expectations.

“We know we are capable of much more and we need to target clean weekends and races to make the most of our potential. To do so, we have work to do on all sides of our operation; chassis and engine on and off track, and work with the drivers to allow them to reach their respective capacities.

“We are motivated as ever to strive for more and we aim for a full recovery in competitiveness in Spain.”