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Renault team principal Frederic Vasseur has said that the team's qualifying performances so far this season have made the task of scoring points harder.
After returning to Formula One at the start of the year, the well-funded works team has notched up just one points finish courtesy of Kevin Magnussen in Russia, and while Vasseur admits the team aren't aiming for glory right away, their lack of qualifying pace has hampered them in 2016.
"If you race you want to be at the top," Vassuer told the official F1 website. "But the challenge right now is not to be on the podium next week - the challenge is to build up an organisation, a structure, that will deliver in the future - and long-term."
The positions that we have on the grid right now make it almost impossible to get into the points - and if we do, then it’s only if something happens - if there are incidents," he added. "And I don’t want to expect incidents. So if we could improve to the point that we start, let’s say, from P14, then to finish in P10 would be much easier."
Next year will see F1's regulations go through a dramatic change, with many expecting the order to be shuffled as a result. Renault see the change as a good opportunity to move forward.
"We do consider 2017 a good opportunity for us," said Vasseur. "Right now we are using a 2015-designed car that was built around a Mercedes engine, so when switching to a Renault engine we suffered from the very beginning. It is a fact that we are not building the 2017 car based on the 2016 one, but on the 2015 car - and that is a lot of catching-up! "
"But as I just said, 2017 holds a good opportunity for us. Yes, right now it is a bit stressful to manage such a huge gap based on the structure that we have - but we are working hard on it."
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C. Sainz jr
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Well, it sort of do makes sense, I have honestly never seen them do well in Qualifying this season.