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Renault's outgoing racing president Jerome Stoll says that Renault will target a podium finish in the 2019 season after securing fourth in the constructor's championship this year.
The French outfit beat Haas to the best of the rest spot, finishing 29 points ahead. However, it is still yet to achieve a podium finish since it returned to the sport as a works team in 2016, having made improvements each season.
Next year, seven-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo will join Nico Hulkenberg at the team as it resurges towards the front of the field. It still remains a long way off the top three, ending the 2018 season 297 points behind third-placed Red Bull.
"We largely underestimated the state in which the team was in," Stoll told France's Auto Hebdo when asked about the difficulties of its maiden season. "Many people had left, very little investment had been made. We knew it was going to be difficult, but we ended up in a much more difficult situation than expected."
"Thanks to Cyril Abiteboul, who has been able to give the impetus, we are a team with a very special identity and it is something that makes me proud," he said.
"We were ninth in 2016, sixth last year and fourth this year, which is a first step in which we have set up all the foundations. The next step for Renault is the podium."
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (7)
Login to replymcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
I have a feeling that, RIC would fetch them the long overdue podium, while Hulk raking in more of number 4 finishes.
Jutlandia
Posts: 191
Keep dreaming!
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
It's not far fetched. Renault should have been on the podium this year. The expectation needs to be for next year. It should be stated that Renault was a disappointment this year. They made 4th largely because of their great driver lineup. Haas had a better car most of the season, but they squandered a tremendous amount of points. Also, Force India was technically fourth, but the exclusion saved Renault.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
True. Force India is the 4th. Thanks to Romain Grosjean( in the first half), Haas didnt make it to 4th.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Podiums could indeed happen, although I kinda suspect they will grab one or two thanks to someone else's failure and thanks to their two drivers rather than their own competence. As the others have said, the car of this year, while an improvement, was still inferior to the likes of Haas and Force India.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Well there was a lot to catch back being only a ‘nearly’ team when run as Lotus so still some way to go to get on and trip up RB but I fear it will be same place next year at best unless (1) Honda do a McLaren on RB or (2) they drop an extra £100M into the kitty. Can’t see no. 2 coming off given the £Bn’s the automotive OEM’s are having to pump into EV’s now the politicians have obliterated diesel cars. It’s still a very distinct two tier series for 2019 with RB in the middle of the sandwich.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I could see Honda sinking RB to maybe p4-p5 if they dont get their V-Tec on, but other than that I expect them to remain at p3 for 2019. It wont be a McLaren, of that Im sure, partly because McLaren was a big part of that problem. I agree that Renault probably wont be pumping more cash into the car, they seem pretty pleased with their current budget, and unlike Force India, their budget to performance ratio aint sublime, meaning budget to matter greatly in this case. I expect them to get a tough challenge from Haas and Force India and Sauber for next year, probably STR too, now that they are to get more RB parts, and surely McLaren cant stay where they are for next year? Williams is the ones Im worried about though.