Renault RS16 Speculation Thread

[turbof1]

This is the speculation thread about the 2016 car. Rumors, articles, ideas and fantasies about the car can be posted here. Once the car gets officially launched, this thread will be closed and discussion continues in the official thread.

[Gridlock]

http://media.renault.com/global/en-gb/r ... r=16144151

Done deal, welcome back Renault (and a sigh of relief for all those at Enstone).

Renault R36?

[turbof1]

Topic title updated.

[toraabe]

They have got some key people in, and the engine will for sure be at least on pair with Ferrari. Mercedes has offered their "hybrid" solution to Renault .. Does that mean the famous split turbo will be bolted on ? Maybee ..
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 72215.html

[ChrisF1]

How the hell do you figure the engine will be on a par with Ferrari?

Also, what makes you think you can just bolt a few bits from a Merc on?

[Joseki]

Be on pair with Ferrari next year will also mean to be on pair with Mercedes, I think it's unlikely.

[Skippon]

They have got some key people in, and the engine will for sure be at least on pair with Ferrari. Mercedes has offered their "hybrid" solution to Renault .. Does that mean the famous split turbo will be bolted on ? Maybee ..
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 72215.html

Mercedes will not be offering its hybrid solution to Renault.... All its turbo, MGU-K, MGU-H and ERS are made exclusively by HPP in Brixworth as part of it PU package...

[threep]

2016 will be a rebuilding year. The switch to the Renault power unit was really late which compromises the chassis and aero package for the 2016 car. They could choose to retain a largely black and gold livery so that what might be a mediocre season next year is associated with the black and gold livery, whilst concentrating resources on the 2017 car designed against the new technical regs.

Then they could then rock up in 2017 with a (hopefully) competitive car and all new Renault colour scheme. Well that's what I would do if I was Carlos Ghosn!

[GoranF1]

There's been an exodus of first class tech people from this team in the last few years,so it will take time to recover despite Renault's fresh cash.

[Facts Only]

They are in very similar situation to Mercedes taking over Brawn in 2010, they had also been underfunded and lost a lot of staff and experience so I would expect a similar game plan to what Merc did. They had a clear aim of 2010 = 5th 2011 = 4th 2012 =3rd 2013 = 2nd and champions in 2014 and I think Renault will do something similar although maybe with a slightly shorter time frame as Enstone is a known quantity, I would expect ther game plan to be for 2018 or 2019.

F1 goes in cycles and like red bull before Mercedes will enventually wain and Renault will be next and ready in line.

[ringo]

2016 will be a rebuilding year. The switch to the Renault power unit was really late which compromises the chassis and aero package for the 2016 car. They could choose to retain a largely black and gold livery so that what might be a mediocre season next year is associated with the black and gold livery, whilst concentrating resources on the 2017 car designed against the new technical regs.

Then they could then rock up in 2017 with a (hopefully) competitive car and all new Renault colour scheme. Well that's what I would do if I was Carlos Ghosn!

They will make it as much a renault car as possible.
It doesn't matter if they are midfield or in the back. I think Renault sees the value of having a car on the grid. It's still good marketing. Better to be visible as renault for 3 years than 2.

[ME4ME]

Midfield? Not so sure about that, I think they'll be at the back competing with Sauber.

Remember last year they had a terrible car with the Renault PU in it. It was asymmetric and had all kind of fundamental issues. This year they build a more conservative, but decent car and were to some extent saved by the Merc PU. Going back to Renault power will hurt them, add to that the lack of funds the team has endured over the last 12 months and thus preparation for 2016 I assume will be somewhat shy of what other teams have managed.

Surely the current midfield will move forward significantly over the winter. Williams is talking about a radical design change, Force India are achieving great results with their switch of wind tunnel and could potentially boost funding through their Aston Martin deal. Toro Rosso will surely make a big leap forward with the Ferrari PU, especially on reliability. Mclaren and Red Bull won't sit still either. I expect Renault to have a real tough year in 2016.

For the sake of making progress I hope they can terminate Maldonado's contract and actually get an experienced reliable driver in there.

[turbof1]

I moved posts about drivers and team colors to the team thread: http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 15&t=23709. A friendly reminder that even though the speculation threads are bit looser, discussion still has to be related to the car. Since we now have team threads, discussion about the team other then about the car, continues there.

[ringo]

Midfield? Not so sure about that, I think they'll be at the back competing with Sauber.

Remember last year they had a terrible car with the Renault PU in it. It was asymmetric and had all kind of fundamental issues. This year they build a more conservative, but decent car and were to some extent saved by the Merc PU. Going back to Renault power will hurt them, add to that the lack of funds the team has endured over the last 12 months and thus preparation for 2016 I assume will be somewhat shy of what other teams have managed.

Surely the current midfield will move forward significantly over the winter. Williams is talking about a radical design change, Force India are achieving great results with their switch of wind tunnel and could potentially boost funding through their Aston Martin deal. Toro Rosso will surely make a big leap forward with the Ferrari PU, especially on reliability. Mclaren and Red Bull won't sit still either. I expect Renault to have a real tough year in 2016.

For the sake of making progress I hope they can terminate Maldonado's contract and actually get an experienced reliable driver in there.

Just looking at the group of people at enstone, they have a quality team that can produce really good chassis. This year's chassis wasn't too bad, and could have had more constructors points if they had better luck and a better driver than maldonado.
If we even go back to the last two years with the V8s we see that renault is capable of creating a chassis that can challenge for wins. I wont put then in the same leagues with sauber, they are better than that.
In fact i can go out on a limb and say they will create a better chassis than williams and force india next year.

[godlameroso]

I agree, and to a large extent the fact that they were sorely underfunded probably prevented them from really evolving the chassis. They may come out with a b-spec chassis like FI did this year.