Renault’s strong recent form across a range of circuits has boosted the Formula 1 team’s confidence that it has made a tangible breakthrough with its set-up and car development programme.
Though Renault is still behind immediate rivals McLaren and Racing Point in the constructors’ championship, it has moved beyond its prior dependency on low-downforce circuits and outscored both teams in three of the last four grands prix at Spa, Monza, Mugello and Sochi.
Renault has netted 63 of its 99 points this season in that time and is now just seven points from third place, plus it has already beaten its points tally from a disappointing 2019 season and is on course to record its highest return of the works team’s modern incarnation, which began in 2016.
Daniel Ricciardo has finished fourth on three occasions this season and been best-of-the-rest behind Mercedes and Red Bull twice in the last four races, declaring after a fifth-place finish in Russia last weekend that he now has confidence at “any track we go to”.
Renault had upgrades at Sochi that included reworked bargeboard detail, and its developments appear to have complemented set-up gains since Silverstone and unlocked more medium-speed corner performance.
This was evidenced by Renault’s strong pace at Mugello, where Ricciardo challenged for what would’ve been this version of the works team’s first podium, and that form continued at Sochi even though Ricciardo did finish behind Sergio Perez’s Racing Point.
“Part of that is us getting on top of the car, set-up wise,” said Renault sporting director Alan Permane of the team’s progress.
“Part of it is here [Sochi] we have brought an upgrade that worked very well, a really decent-sized upgrade which both cars have fitted and we’ve been running in qualifying, and in the race.
“So it bodes well. And the other thing is this is a very different track to Spa or Mugello.
“It doesn’t have the very high-speed sweeping corners of Mugello. It doesn’t have the downforce level of Spa where we went so well.
“So I think we can now really be confident that the car is going to work on any track.”
Renault will be heartened by its progress in 2020 after seriously struggling with aerodynamic development last year, particularly in the bargeboard area.
That stagnation led to the team overhauling its technical team, with Dirk de Beer installed as head of aerodynamics and Pat Fry joining in early 2020 as technical director.
Renault played down expectations for the start of the season as the basis of the its 2020 car was set by the technical team it replaced, but was optimistic the new Fry-led operation would steer development in a stronger direction through the year.
“I would say it is somewhere between a tenth and a half and two tenths,” Permane said of the
latest upgrade package.
“Two tenths maybe the absolute best, maybe a tenth at the absolute worst sort of thing, but it’s difficult when you get something like that because it helps driveability.
“It doesn’t just give downforce, it helps balance. So, what we see is just working well and being predictable, which is great.”
Renault had previously only got points from three of eight opportunities across both cars in Russia and Sunday’s result was the first time it enjoyed a double top-10 finish.
A 16-point haul, with Esteban Ocon finishing seventh, closed the gap to McLaren in the constructors’ championship to just seven points.
“After this weekend, I can certainly be more confident moving forward,” said Ricciardo, who is now sixth in the constructors’ championship.
“Nico [Hulkenberg] did pretty well around here last year, but it certainly wasn’t our strongest track, and personally, it’s never been my strongest track.
“So, to put in a good result here personally, but also to have the car underneath me, I think that says a lot.
“It gives me confidence now, I think at any track we go to.
“Whether it’s a top-five car, I don’t know, but I think certainly we can realistically aim for Q3 every track now, no matter what the layout.”
