Breaking news
Formula 1
"No magic bullet" from Renault for Red Bull in 2017
Renault Sport F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul says there will be no "magic bullet" upgrade in 2017, and the focus instead is on reliability.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jun 22, 2017, 8:56 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Such an approach is also being pursued by Mercedes, and it reflects the fact that in the fourth season of the current formula the manufacturers are finding it harder to make significant gains.
Earlier in the season, Red Bull's management suggested Montreal as the venue for a performance upgrade, and the team's frustration about its absence was very clear.
"No, there won't be," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com when asked if a major step was coming soon.
"I'm sorry, including for myself and the yellow team, which is the main area of our focus, but there is no such magic bullet any more.
"I love Red Bull, but they're still not in charge of the development plan of the engine, nor of the communication on the engine side!
"The way that our engine development is working is that we are now in a constant improvement world of development.
"The thing is last year we were in a position that we were suffering a deficit that was such that by bringing something, there was a clear difference to all teams.
"It's not going to happen this year, it's not going to happen even next year, because now the gap has reduced in such a way that it's all going to be about small, small steps that eventually will bridge the gap to the leaders.
"And that is happening almost on a race-to-race basis. There are steps that you can do on every single race weekend, when that does not involve new hardware, and then there is new hardware, which will be based on a new power unit, obviously."
Abiteboul is confident that the next wave of engines will allow all Renault users to in effect run harder for longer.
"We have better reliability. Maybe we will continue to have some difficulties because we're still using the first engine of the season, but with the engines that could be introduced or will be introduced, they will have a much better reliability rate, which means that we can improve in terms of mileage that we can cover at maximum performance.
"Mercedes has talked about that, and it's the same thing on our side. It gives us also the possibility to explore different utilisation modes of the engine, which will be starting to do in the next few races. And there will be more changes of the hardware also to improve the reliability."
However,m he did concede that a performance upgrade could yet be introduced, assuming it is proven on the dyno.
"There might be also later in the season introduction of new hardware to bring more performance, but the first thing is reliability.
"We are thinking in particular of power unit number four, because power unit number three already exists. If we had a blow-up in Montreal, number three already existed."
He suggested that new technology could help to give the 2018 engine a boost.
"There will be continuous small steps, and there is also a healthy step that we are trying to build-up for next year, and as we speak, we are already well advanced for next year's engine, which is representing a certain innovation in one particular area – or several areas.
"But even there, it's a composition of small steps, everywhere on the engine package."
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
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Kvyat unsure he wants Sainz collaboration anymore
Next article Perez/Ocon will be "handful" to manage - Force India
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 10, 2024
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Renault F1 Team
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
16 d
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brazilian GP
23 d
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
You Ask The Questions: Robert Kubica
Formula 1
You Ask The Questions: Robert Kubica
Latest news
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 11 h
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 12 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
13 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
15 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
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
Subscribe