Renault cannot ‘dwell’ on strong Canada result - Abiteboul

The Renault Formula 1 team cannot afford to “dwell” on its strong result in Canada as it heads into this weekend’s French Grand Prix, says Cyril Abiteboul.

Renault recorded its first double points finish of the 2019 season at the Canadian Grand Prix to move up to fifth in the constructors’ championship and just two points behind fourth-placed McLaren.

The French manufacturer is determined to build on its progress at its home round at Paul Ricard and is set to be boosted by the introduction of “several” upgrades to its chassis.

“We enter the French Grand Prix on the back of a strong team result in Canada,” said Abiteboul.

“We demonstrated our ability to recover from a disappointing start to the season in a controlled and professional manner.

“The execution of the weekend was good with Daniel [Ricciardo] and Nico [Hulkenberg] delivering strongly in both qualifying and race.

“The result, and the manner in which we achieved it, should give us the confidence and motivation to push on through a demanding period of races with five Grands Prix before the summer break.

“France is clearly an important milestone,” he added. “Not only is it our home Grand Prix at Le Castellet, but also the opportunity to demonstrate a further improvement in our competitiveness.

“While Canada, a power sensitive circuit, underlined the gains made in engine performance, France will see the introduction of several development items on the chassis.

“One thing is clear: we cannot dwell on Montréal and to aim for a repeat of that result and keep striving to reduce the gap to the front.”

Renault’s form in Canada was boosted by being able to run its engines at a higher level, following a difficult start to the campaign that was hampered by a series of reliability gremlins.

Engine technical director Remi Taffin says the team’s power unit performance has improved ever since it fitted “counter measures” in May’s Spanish Grand Prix.

“Montréal is an engine sensitive, high-powered track and it was pleasing to see good performance from the car,” he explained.

“For the first time this season, we were able to see our whole package performing throughout the entire weekend.

“What counts is doing it again and we have a great opportunity in France, our home race, to repeat that and deliver to the same level.

“We clearly have engaged with our season now, but we have more hard work to get through. We want to take fourth place back and move clearly ahead of the rest.”