Breaking news

Formula 1 Italian GP

Monza result made F1 feel like "a different sport" for Renault

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul says the French squad's strong results in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix made Formula 1 feel like "a different sport" for the team.

Adam Cooper Jonathan Noble

Published: Sep 8, 2019, 11:41 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Nico Hulkenberg, Renault F1 Team R.S. 19

Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg gave the team its best Saturday result for over a decade by qualifying fifth and sixth in Italy.

In Belgium last weekend they also qualified strongly, but both took grid penalty hits after the team decided not to split a change to the new spec engine over two races.

They only used the new engine on Friday in Spa, before it was taken out for Saturday and kept fresh for Monza.

"First we need to be able to do a better work to avoid having to take any penalty, and stop having to be smart about when to take them," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

"A better result would have been possible in Spa without the penalty, without the first-lap incident when you're starting from the midfield.

"Just like we knew a good result was available here, because we know the car has a good top speed, and we know the car is extremely competitive in slow corners, which is a little bit the situation here.

"There are a couple of medium to high-speed corners, but you are not losing a lot of time here when you are not competitive. We still know where our weakness and strengths are and we need to work on that harder."

Read Also:

Ricciardo "excited" for Monza due to Renault engine gains

Abiteboul added that chasing the top teams had been a big boost.

"That's amazing, that's a different sport, that's a different life. Everything is suddenly starting to light up, the faces of the guys in the garage, the engineers, the drivers, even when you do pitstop practice there is a different type of energy.

"We know what's missing, we know what we want, we need to convert that into more energy and a more competitive car for tomorrow."

Ricciardo agreed that the last two tracks have played to the strengths of the package.

"Spa was stronger and knowing that we ran quite a lot of downforce there I was pretty confident coming into this weekend and I think that showed again," said Ricciardo. "Maybe there's a little trend where at lower downforce tracks we seem to be better this year

"Montreal was a low downforce circuit as well and that was our best quali.

"We were fourth in Montreal, fifth here, sixth in Spa, so there is a little bit of a trend - Monaco is high downforce and we were quick there, but that is just pure driving style. I think low downforce is where we seem to find a little bit more at the moment."

Hulkenberg highlighted the contribution of the engine.

"I think this track obviously suits us or hides our weakness maybe more and brings forward the good side of our power unit," said the German. "I think that's the reason we are competitive this weekend."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Why Vettel escaped track limits penalty at Monza

Next article Italian GP: Leclerc fends off Mercedes duo to win

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

Formula 1

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

MotoGP

Qatar GP

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

3 h

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Turkish GP

4 h

How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future

Feature

Discover prime content

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

Formula 1

By Maurice Hamilton

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

How seizing every chance – and making it happen – keeps Pierre Gasly’s fire burning

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How seizing every chance – and making it happen – keeps Pierre Gasly’s fire burning

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Ronald Vording

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Filip Cleeren

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts