Remi Taffin feels that making progress in reliability with the Renault power unit can improve its competitiveness at the same time, with better components making it possible to push on them harder.
The power-hungry Baku City Circuit showed just how much progress Renault have made his season, with Daniel Ricciardo giving Red Bull Racing their first victory of the season with Renault-power, and Engine Technical Director Taffin feels that its almost ‘magic’ that they were able to turn the engine up a notch in Azerbaijan to good effect.
“If you have reliability problems and can solve them, then you can actually push hard on the part,” said Taffin to Autosport. “If you are on the back foot and have to turn things down electronically, then you can move things up quite easily when you have the reliability back.
“That is what we did [in Baku] – and it sometimes feels like it is a bit of magic stuff. You don’t need to change big things in the engine hardware to make big steps these days.”
Taffin insists they will continue to develop the power unit in order to maximise the reliability, which in turn should help improve the power output, particularly with regards to its hybrid.
He also pins hope that new fuel and lubricants will also aid performance, and bring they factory and customer teams towards the front of the field.
“The second part of the season we will be looking to build on the right level of reliability to take the most out of the engine,” said Taffin. “That also means the most out of the power unit, so we can get more electrical energy out of the energy store.
“We will see if we can bring some of the [update] stuff forward. We will have some new fuel or lubricants which will help and, if we have some new bits and pieces that we have left aside from the start of the season, we will bring them.
“There is still a big focus in trying to follow our road map and make sure that next year’s engine is there. As it is an engine that is close to this one, it is easier to transfer ideas from one to the other.”