Renault Formula 1 team facing transition year ahead of performance step in 2017

Renault Sport F1’s technical director Nick Chester believes the team is facing a transition year in 2016 ahead of stronger Formula 1 campaign in 2017.

The French manufacturer held a launch event in Paris this week and is returning to the sport after a five-year absence as a works outfit. The French giant bought back the Lotus squad it had owned up until 2010. The Enstone-based team had faced financial difficulties towards the end of its time as an independent outfit and a number of its engineering staff left to join other teams.

Now, like the Mercedes team when it took over Brawn in 2009, it is hiring furiously and building up the numbers to take on the big boys.

So what does 2016 hold for the team?

Although Renault’s return as a full scale constructor means the team does not have to worry about money for the foreseeable future, Chester explained to JAonF1 at the company's launch event in Paris that while the team would try to improve on its sixth place finish in the 2015 championship, the coming year would be about rebuilding ahead of a stronger push in 2017.

He said: “We’re certainly going to try [to step up]. It’s obviously quite tough for us because we’ve got a lot of rebuilding of the team to do having lost a lot of people in the last couple of years.

“So we’ve got to rebuild the team, we had a late switch to the [Renault] power unit so we want to start with a reliable car and then try and build up.

“We’ll try and put some developments on during the year but we’re realistic, we know it’s a transition year and it’s going to take time to build the team up.”

Chester also explained that the team was already working with the 2017 season in mind, even though F1 bosses are yet to agree on the upcoming changes to the regulations.

He said: “There’s some resources [already focused on 2017] but it’s obviously tricky because the regulations are moving around all the time.

“But one of our focuses is going to be making a step up in 2017, so we are going to put a decent amount of resources on it.”

Renault’s purchase of the Lotus team was only confirmed in December 2015 after it had released a statement of intent to complete the deal three months earlier. Chester described how the late switch from the Mercedes engines the team used last year back to Renault power units had lead to a frantic push to get the R16 ready in time for the new season.

He said: “Going back into the middle of 2015 we were developing this year’s car based around the Mercedes power unit and at the last minute we switched to the Renault power unit.

“The guys have done a great job of changing the shape of the chassis and doing everything we need to do to put a different power unit in.

“Then a lot of the push was trying to finish the rest of the design [as] we pushed a lot of the design late. We were still designing cooling systems late and a lot of the other systems around the power unit were late.

“But we’ve now passed the crash tests and we’re pretty much on target for the first test. It’s all super tight – everything has to arrive on the right day, all the way up to the test but it’s been a good effort."

Chester also confirmed that famous F1 engine developer, Mario Illien, has been working with Renault to improve the design of its V6 hybrid turbo.

He said: “[Illien] is not working on the chassis side but on the power unit side, yes. He has a deal with Renault sport to help on some developments.”