Renault’s Bob Bell says the French manufacturer is on top of its race pace issues, having identified solution to improve its RS17’s speed on Sundays.
In China as well as Bahrain, Nico Hulkenberg put in stellar qualifying performances behind the wheel of the yellow car but on both occasions lost momentum on race day, although the German did enjoy a top ten finish last weekend.
Jolyon Palmer has lingered a bit behind his new team mate since the season kicked off and has yet to score points.
But chief technical officer Bob Bell is hopeful his team can deliver more race speed on the back of some changes which are in the works.
“We need to find more pace on Sundays, we just lack race pace,” Bell told Motorsport.com.
“We knew that going into the race. We’ve got a reasonable view on where we’re losing and why it’s happening, so we’ve just got to deliver on the bits that will restore that.
“It’s a combination of tyres and aero, and getting them to work under all circumstances.
“We know what we need to do. What we haven’t been able to do is demonstrate it on track, deliver the bits to the track, and deliver on that upgrade. That’s the next step.”
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Bell is nevertheless encouraged with the RS17’s basic performance, even if it’s just over the course of one lap, insisting the team is moving in the right direction overall.
“The basic pace of the car is there. You couldn’t put it where we put it in qualifying if it wasn’t.
“What we don’t have is a flat operating envelope where we can get that same level of pace short run and long run, and that’s what our objective is.
“We’re in much better shape than we were a year ago,” he added.
“We’re not where we want to be, we’re not where we planned to be, but we are getting there, one step at a time.
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