Renault: 'Small details' key to better form

Renault team principal Fred Vasseur believes that improving on small details can help the French manufacturer deliver more performance over the second half of the campaign.

Jolyon Palmer, Renault Sport F1 Team RS16

Kevin Magnussen, Renault Sport F1 Team RS16

Kevin Magnussen, Renault Sport F1 Team RS16 on the grid

The Enstone-based outfit has had a difficult start to 2016, while it focuses on a major revamp, and currently lies ninth in the constructors' championship standings.

But with a few more developments set to be introduced later this year, plus areas where Vasseur is sure his team can do better, the team is hopeful that it can become stronger.

"If you look at the last two or three events, we are improving but we need to be focussed on the smaller details," said the Frenchman.

"We need to look at set-up and strategy and make sure we are doing a better job compared to the last events. We also need to understand tyre management a bit better.

"Over the last two or three races we have looked at it a lot and we have a much better understanding now, so we need to keep on with this trajectory.

"We are improving on the grid but if you look at race pace we are always better off than in qualifying.

"This means we need to get more from the Saturday situation. We are going in the right direction but we need to find two or three tenths and it is in the smaller details we need to improve and find it."

Chief technical officer Bob Bell thinks Renault's difficult in finding big leaps of performance is one shared by many teams.

"All teams are finding it hard to unlock real performance gains, partly due to the current stability in regulations that makes it tricky to find the final parts of the puzzle," he said. "It's also partly due to a concerted effort on 2017, which will see big regulation changes.

"It's not just hard for us, but for everyone on the grid. That said, we have been very good at finding our strong points and exploiting them, and since Hungary we have seen some genuine progress."

When asked about how the team planned to divide resources between this year and next year, Bell said: "It's a difficult call to decide on the resource split and it really depends on your aspirations for 2016 versus your aspirations for 2017 to decide when to switch. As per most teams we are now winding up 2016 and putting all our effort into 2017."