Renault not planning further 2016 in-season upgrades
Renault’s engine technical director Rémi Taffin confirmed that the French manufacturer does not intend to introduce a new specification power unit for this year. However, it plans small updates to it to further optimize the current spec.
Renault started the year with the most development token left in its pocket. It has made some improvements for this year over the winter, but many expected them to make further big gains over the season.
Taffin was delighted with Renault’s improvements especially after last year’s continuing struggles which resulted in terminating its contract with Red Bull.
“I think it is only a good satisfaction, because where we were coming from was a difficult year last year and now we can see the improvement on track and everything we got out from the factory to the track was working well, so that was a good step forward, either first race or actually Monaco/Montreal specification we introduced.”
“It’s all working well. I just have to say we’re on it, but we have a good way to go.”
The engine token system is going to be scrapped altogether for next year which means manufacturer can completely rethink and redesign their power units. As they are going to remain limited in terms of number of engine components, manufacturers have to make the majority of their fundamental changes over the winter.
“I think it will be next year. The big step we will have will be next year’s engine, race one.”
Taffin, however, promised that development of the current specification won’t stop and further optimization is going to proceed for the remainder of the season.
“Until we get to the end of the season now we will be working on the specification we have now, trying to extract the most out it, but there won’t be any more let’s say big step as we had for race one and six,” added Taffin.
