Cyril Abiteboul: Renault F1 now strong enough to 'attack' rivals
Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul says the Anglo-French team is now in a position to “attack” its main rivals after it showed much improved form in Hungary.
Jolyon Palmer was running 10th prior to a spin, which represented Renault’s strongest showing since Kevin Magnussen made the points in Russia.
“We knew that the first races would be about recovery and setting the foundations, but we had a tougher ride than expected,” said Abiteboul. “However 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. In the race we were able to out race Haas, Sauber and even Force India and Jolyon was just a sniff away from his first points.
“Now the task for Hockenheim is translating the extra pace we’ve unlocked into the points we just missed in Budapest.
“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.”
