Cyril Abiteboul concedes that Renault's first part of the 2016 F1 season has been “a tougher ride than expected”, though its Budapest performance is seen as “a tangible step forward”.
Jolyon Palmer finished on the cusp of the points-paying positions in Hungary but the British rookie would have opened his tally had he not spun and lost 10th place after his final pit stop.
Returning as a fully-fledged works team this year, Renault has generally struggled for pace and scored only once, with Kevin Magnussen claiming seventh in Russia.
After its takeover of the cash-strapped Lotus F1 Team last December, the French constructor was aware of the challenge at hand but Abiteboul admits Renault’s trials and travails have been greater than foreseen.
“In Budapest we demonstrated that we had taken a tangible step forward, not just in our own performance but in relative performance to our rivals,” the managing director said.
“In the race we were able to outrace Haas, Sauber and even Force India and Jolyon was just a sniff away from his first points.
“We now go to the final race of the first part of the year with our plan back on track. We knew that the first races would be about recovery and setting the foundations, but we had a tougher ride than expected.”
With the initial phase of Renault’s return as an F1 constructor now achieved, Abiteboul has laid out the roadmap for this weekend’s German Grand Prix, as well as the second half of the season.
“The task for Hockenheim is translating the extra pace we’ve unlocked into the points we just missed in Budapest. We’re making progress and the benefits of a strong result would be welcomed by everyone at Enstone and Viry.
“For the rest of this season, our goal is to attack the teams ahead, using new aero parts developed since the beginning of the season and marginal evolutions of the engine to stay in the same pace as our competitors, despite our focus on 2017.”
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