Renault to introduce turbo fix for British GP

The updates were planned after Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo experienced a similar issue in China, but have only now come on stream.

The turbo was not changed as part of Renault's recent major upgrade package, first seen in Montreal, so Hulkenberg's was of the same spec as the one that failed in Shanghai.

"It was not a new spec of turbo, it's a new engine but there was nothing different on that spec over previous spec," Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

"However, we have a little bit of a containing measure that will be introduced in Silverstone as planned, and was not available here.

"We know that we had that risk, after the failure we experienced on Daniel's car on Shanghai. This was the only problem that we've had since Shanghai.

"Nico's turbo is definitely dead, but the ICE and the other components should be OK."

Although Hulkenberg will have to take his third turbo of the season at Silverstone, Abiteboul says that the team is still in schedule.

"We were on a plan of using four engines, to keep on with the development pace, and in particular the introduction of the C-spec, so that does give us some latitude for this type of situation.

"But it is not a situation that is anyway acceptable, and we have to keep on working on that type of reliability.

"There's no penalty for the time being, we were anticipating penalties after the shut down, which is still the plan."

Abiteboul was satisfied with the performance of its new MGU-K in Austria, which was only used by the works cars.

"Packaging issues meant that McLaren opted for fresh versions of the old spec, while Red Bull is on the bubble for penalties with both drivers, and thus in no rush to make a change.

"No particular issue with it. Our car was lighter, so we could achieve a car to the limit, and also a better weight distribution, which is a double positive impact.

"So far the other two cars have preferred not to take that option, because it requires you to change some stuff on the installation side.

"Both teams have elected not to use it for the time being. It doesn't mean that they will not use it later in the season."

Abiteboul also downplayed the introduction of new qualifying modes in Austria, suggesting that Renault would not have made a fuss about the change had the media not been told about it by Christian Horner.

"The qualifying mode is something that we wouldn't have advertised if someone else hadn't mentioned it. It's a development that is not turning around the world, it's a small improvement, among the many we are doing.

"In normal conditions we would keep that for ourselves in terms of communication, we would not create expectations.

"That's another reason why it's also at some point stop that relationship, because we need to control our communication."