Nico Hulkenberg believes his Renault team is still at least a year from competing for wins in Formula 1 despite making encouraging progress during the 2017 season.

The French manufacturer went from the back of the grid to battle at the head of the midfield this year but a dependence on one driver, Hulkenberg, for points for much of the year prevented them from challenging higher in the Constructors' standings.

Eventually, a controversial sixth place for the German in Abu Dhabi would be enough to see Renault jump Toro Rosso into sixth, which, just shy of their pre-season target still pleased the 30-year-old.

"I've said it many times before, 2017 was a build-up year and shining would be a rather rare situation," he commented. "So it was really great to wrap up the season with a result that made us all go home with our heads held high."

The goal since returning as a works team at the start of 2016, after buying the remains of Lotus, has been to once again fight for the championship by 2020 and Hulkenberg does think the growth at the Enstone factory and development is on course to meet that.

"In reality, I would give it another 12 to 18 months," he said. "The aim is to fight at the top and that has not changed.

"We know that we still have homework to do in certain areas, but the signs are all super encouraging, as pace-wise we are getting better and better. Actually, I am really proud of how we progressed, looking back to where we started at the beginning of the season."

A fact facing Renault in 2018, is the likelihood of being the third best team using their own engines as McLaren join Red Bull on their customer list. This doesn't worry special advisor and four-time world champion Alain Prost, however.

"For me, the pressure is positive, even if it is difficult," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "The factory team will race against two well-established teams, where the entire organisation that Renault is still setting up already exists and both of those teams also have top drivers - maybe even the best, so on paper, we cannot beat Red Bull and McLaren.

"We will be better next year and the comparison with the customer teams will help us to gain experience in order to get closer to the top teams," he added. "We will be here for a long time so it's important that we make progress every year. In the end, if we want to win, we will have to beat everyone."