Renault boosted by its performance in Spa

The technical director of Renault, James Allison, stated that the pace demonstrated at the Belgian Grand Prix was very encouraging, but it will take a few more races to see if the team has turned a corner.

The team delivered one of its best performances in several months at Spa, with both of its drivers qualifying in the Top 10 (Petrov 10th and Senna 7th) and with the recently introduced improvements starting to work better.

Allison admitted that what the team showed at Spa made the team more optimistic about their chances for the upcoming races.

We were closer to the pace at Spa than we had been in the last four races. No driver had an unhindered race, but the car’s underlying pace was capable of securing 5th and 6th places.

We will know if we have reached a milestone in a few races, however, I take to heart the fact that our competitiveness seemed attractive throughout the weekend, whether with soft, hard, or intermediate tires.

We have been struggling with poor performances during recent races on wet tracks, and putting this behind us gives me hope that the improvements made at Spa will continue on other circuits.

Despite leaving Belgium with just the two points from Vitaly Petrov’s 9th place finish, Allison was adamant that it was one of the best weekends in a while.

He adds: The team was very efficient on Saturday with challenging conditions. Our engineers gave us every opportunity to maximize our performance by ensuring we were on the clear track every time conditions were optimal.

Our drivers did a good job by seizing the opportunity to be well placed on the starting grid. The race was less satisfying in terms of points gained, but in terms of competitiveness, this race has been the best in a while.

Allison also acknowledged the performance of Bruno Senna (13th) for his first race weekend in place of Nick Heidfeld: «I don’t think we need information from the team to know that Bruno had a remarkable weekend. The current regulations place a very big obstacle in the path of any driver who comes in mid-season.»

Moreover, Bruno had to make his debut with us at Spa, a circuit that truly separates the men from the boys. Ultimately, he managed to qualify under difficult conditions. Facing all these challenges and qualifying 7th is a fantastic result in every respect.

I know that Bruno made the race complicated for himself with the first-corner incident, but for me it’s a totally understandable mistake; it was his first time driving the R31 with a full tank of fuel, and he was surrounded by drivers who already had eleven races this season. After that, his race pace was very respectable, and I look forward to seeing him in the car again.