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Carlos Sainz believes that Renault has finally got "something to fight with" thanks to the gains in engine performance that they found over the winter.
Renault has consistently lagged behind both Ferrari and Mercedes during the current turbo-hybrid era, and have only been ahead of Honda in recent years.
However, with Honda making massive improvements with their power unit also, there is expected to be a much closer fight between all manufacturers.
When asked whether McLaren can put up a better fight this season, the Spaniard replied: “I feel a change, yes.
“I feel a step forward, a step in the right direction. I still think we are a bit behind the Ferrari and Mercedes engines, but it definitely feels like we have something to fight with now.
"I’ve done four years in Formula 1, those four years have been 10km/h down on all the straights so finally be to turning up to Melbourne and being just two or three km/h down on the top teams is a really, really encouraging scenario.
"They seem to have clear ideas of how to develop the engine through the year. I would praise Renault in that sense because finally it seems they’ve done the step they were needing two years ago.”
Reliability might still be a concern however, as Sainz was forced to retire from the first race in Melbourne with an MGU-K issue.
Sainz will be back in action next weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix and will be aiming to pick up points after the Woking squad and Williams were the only teams not to score at the season-opener in Melbourne.
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (4)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
All in all, things look much closer, which is good. But I still wonder how Renault will fare during the season. I said before the winter season that Renault needed to hit the ground running with a decent advantage over Honda if they were to retain their position throughout the season. Yet that doesn't seem to be the case, meaning Renault will have to change strategy and do what Honda does, and release a steadier stream of upgrades even past the midseason point, or get overtaken.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
The season is young. They both still have to prove themselves to my mind.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Absolutely, things will just get spicier, methinks.
xoya
Posts: 583
Renault is known to leave to the sport whenever things don't workout for them. I expect the to leave after 2020, along with McLaren. We will also lose Williams.