Rob White remains confident in Renault’s progress

If the first tests of the year in Jerez were a true ordeal for engine manufacturer Renault with only 138 laps completed, performance significantly improved during the recent tests in Bahrain at the end of last week.

Rob White, in an interview given to the official Formula 1 website, discusses the tough process undertaken by the brand with the diamond logo between the two testing periods to try to return to an acceptable level of competitiveness: “We made a number of specification changes regarding the batteries, by modifying components, which required some gymnastics between engineering, procurement, assembly, and logistics. We also introduced two new levels in the power unit, the first of which should have been a good starting point for the tests in Jerez. This eliminated a few bugs and allowed us to properly exploit the cars to gather some mileage. The second layer of software modifications had more features to allow for greater possibilities for the control systems, offering better performance and better traction.”

Due to these modifications, the tests in Bahrain were more satisfactory for Renault. In fact, the engine manufacturer was able to cover many more kilometers than in Jerez, even surpassing Ferrari engines in this regard. However, both are still far from the performance and reliability of Mercedes engines. This does not overly concern Rob White, who remains very confident in his team’s ability to meet the challenge posed by the new regulations in force: « We have had some setbacks, but we have certainly made progress. We have accumulated a number of valuable kilometers, we have a solid foundation to work with, and we are moving in the right direction. We are now in a situation we would have accepted halfway through the Jerez tests. We have solved some problems and revealed a few others. We are not behind schedule, but we are going in the right direction. The challenge is to improve the pace of progress because the gap with where we wanted to be at this stage remains significant. We are a few weeks behind where we wanted to be, and we acknowledge that it will take time to unlock the full power of the hybrid engine. We are working hard to achieve this and are determined to succeed. »

Renault does not relent its effort a few weeks before the first Grand Prix of the season, which will be held in Melbourne from March 14 to 16: « We will race again in Bahrain at the end of this week. The homologation deadline for power units is imminent [February 28, editor’s note], the race engines for Melbourne are in the early stages of construction. There is an enormous amount of work underway. The Viry team is working day and night to solve our problems. The collaboration with our teams is closer than ever. The pace of development is extremely rapid away from the track so we can create and validate effective solutions very quickly, showing the determination and tenacity of all the members of our team. »