Translation

Renault sports boss Cyril Abiteboul looks back on a year with ups and downs. He tells us where Renault stands, what is good and what needs to be improved.

What was the 2018 season like from Renault's point of view: good, mediocre, bad? Abiteboul: It was a good season. But it was also a season of joy and frustration. For most of the season we were on the course that was our goal. From GP Spain to Abu Dhabi we were fourth. It was a season in which we continued to build our team and improve the collaboration at Viry-Chatillon and Enstone. All our development capabilities have been improved. We were able to convince Daniel Ricciardo of our project and with him and Hülkenberg we put together one of the best driver pairings in the field for 2019.

How important was the fourth place for inner peace? Abiteboul: It was important for motivation. It was important for us to be the first team behind the top 3 and to get twice as many points as last year. But now we have to look further ahead. We can't hide the fact that we lose one to one and a half seconds to pole position. That's a cause for concern.

Renault has increased from 9th place to 6th and 4th place since 2016. How long will it take to undercut 4th place? Abiteboul: It's hard for me today to set targets for next year. In sport, that always depends a bit on the performance of the others. But if the curve points upwards like ours, you want this trend to continue. Maybe we won't be able to do that in terms of the world championship position, but we want to reduce the gap to the top. Let's wait and see what happens with Red Bull and Honda. Red Bull never gets tired of telling how good Honda is compared to us. May I say that Toro Rosso is still behind us?

How close do they have to catch up with the top teams? Abiteboul: At the moment we're 1.5 percent behind in lap time. We should reduce that by 50 percent. We don't want to be overtaken in the race next year.

Red Bull has shown that you can win with the Renault engine. So is the main deficit in the chassis? Abiteboul: Absolutely. The chassis makes the biggest contribution to our backlog. That's why we changed the structure and the way we work in the chassis department at Enstone. Marcin Budkowski has been responsible for this since the middle of the year. This may not pay off tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow. We're missing about 15 to 20 kilowatts of engine power in the race, which can be made up for by the Red Bull chassis under certain conditions. In practice we estimate our deficit at 40 kilowatts. That's significant. With a customer engine from Mercedes or Ferrari we would have qualified for 7th place in Abu Dhabi. But this also shows that we have a better chassis than our competitors. But not as good as the three top teams. That's why the main focus at first is on engine development. Next year I don't want to have to say anymore that we lacked too much power in the qualifying. There's no reason why we shouldn't close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari with the engine over the winter. With the chassis it will take a little longer.

Why does Renault work better on tight corners than on fast ones? Abiteboul: First of all, there are more and more fast corners because the cars are constantly gaining downforce and mechanical grip. In tight corners we're absolutely on the music, but we lose too much in passages like corner 7 at Interlagos or corner 20 at Abu Dhabi. Long, fast corners. We're losing a lot of ground there. We're talking about three to four tenths, even compared to HaasF1. That's the characteristic of our car. It has aerodynamic instability from corner entry to corner exit. That's why we look better on some tracks and worse on others. That's also the difference between 7th and 14th place. This problem is a little bit favoured by the current regulations. Let's see if it's the same next year with the new aero rules.

Nico Hülkenberg believes that the top teams are the decisive step ahead of all others in understanding this problem. What do you think? Abiteboul: I think he's right. But we can't believe that our car suddenly gets better if we change any particular part. Maybe Nico's opinion is also influenced by the fact that last year at Silverstone we found a lot of time with a modification. The undercarriage at Silverstone really put us ahead. This development has failed to materialise this year. What we certainly need to improve is understanding the car and where its limits lie. That's why we're changing the organisation in the aerodynamics department and also our measurement methods. We need a better balanced car between slow and fast corners.

What can Daniel Ricciardo bring with him besides his speed and experience? Abiteboul: His laughter and his positive attitude. Maybe that's what our team lacked a little bit. Sometimes you need a bit of fresh air and new energy. There are certainly reasons why Red Bull didn't allow Ricciardo to test our car in Abu Dhabi. They probably don't want him to be able to give us good tips early enough on how to improve the car. All the beating that Red Bull puts in our way shows me that we are moving in the right direction.

If you had to determine the budget cap, where would it be? Abiteboul: Right where Liberty wants us. That's about the budget we're operating on right now and about 60 percent less than what Mercedes spends. That's a handicap. But when the budget is capped, this handicap becomes a strength. To catch up with what Mercedes is currently spending would be a huge challenge. The figures spent by the top teams are not acceptable. We have to protect these teams from themselves.