Renault Sport F1 studies the Mercedes-type split turbo

After a disastrous start to the cycle, RSF1 managed to somewhat straighten things out as the year progressed. While the engine manufacturer showed several seconds lag per lap during winter testing, it was not so noticeable given the few laps completed by teams powered by the Renault engine during the initial winter test sessions. With the French engine having disastrous reliability and less power than its competitors, the team from Viry-Chatillon had to make improvements: reliability is now acceptable despite numerous incidents during the season, but performance is still below that of, in particular, the Mercedes engine.

And a possible cause of the advantage of the Mercedes block could be a separation of the turbo into two entities. That’s why the French engine manufacturer decided to look into the matter after launching its first prototype for the 2015 season. Even though Renault had previously tried to downplay the significance of this system, Remi Taffin highlights the fact that engineers would be wrong not to study this system and its potential benefits. Of course, we are looking for a different solution. We will explore all solutions.

Despite this, the Renault block will retain its base: « The base will be similar, but we can change many things. » And to reassure those who fear not seeing the Renault block return to the top without changing all the parts, Remi Taffin recalls the V8 era: « When we spoke about the V8 in the past, we used to say that the last engine was very similar to the one from six or seven years earlier. But 90% of the parts were different, even though when you looked at them closely, they were quite similar. »

Therefore, we should not expect to see RSF1 start from scratch for its new power unit for next year. You will see differences, that’s for sure. But there will be no drastic changes in 2015.