Cyril Abiteboul said last weekend’s failure to score points at the Red Bull Ring – the first time in 2018 where neither Nico Hülkenberg or Carlos Sainz Jr. troubled the top ten – felt like a crash landing for the Renault Sport Formula One Team after such a positive start to the season.
Hülkenberg was forced to retire with an engine-related problem, while Sainz finished twelfth after struggling with his tyres, and Abiteboul, the team principal of the Enstone-based team, admitted the weekend in Austria was not good enough, and they must do better starting this weekend in Great Britain.
“After the highs of a very decent run of eight consecutive finishes in the points culminating in our home Grand Prix in France, Austria was like a crash landing,” said Abiteboul. “Although the circuit did not play to our strengths, we must do better.
“While the race did not go our way, it certainly benefited our rivals, who took advantage of three retirements in the top teams to finish higher than usual in the rankings.”
Abiteboul says the best teams can turn around from a disappointing result and come back stronger in the next race, even if there are only a few days between them, and that is their aim this weekend at Silverstone.
He hopes the team can see both Hülkenberg and Sainz bring the car home, hopefully in the points, and reaffirm themselves as the best of the rest behind the leading three teams in 2018.
“The sign of a good team is the ability to react quickly and come back stronger,” said Abiteboul. “Even in the short turnaround between Austria and Silverstone we must improve reliability, recover our more usual competitiveness level and further our understanding around tyre management.
“We know Silverstone will be a tough challenge but we will keep pushing to get back on target. It’s our second home race, just down the road from the factory, so another double finish would be a welcome fillip as we head towards the summer break.”
