Renault can consider their weekend in Canada a ‘blueprint’ for the future, team boss Cyril Abiteboul says.
The French manufacturer enjoyed their best race of the season in Montreal as Daniel Ricciardo qualified fourth and finished sixth with teammate Nico Hulkenberg right behind.
It was also the first time Renault enjoyed a sustained battle with Mercedes and Red Bull before their pace was ultimately too strong, but it was a real shot in the arm after a slow start to 2019.
“It’s a good team result, it’s the best that we could expect at this point, it puts us back in the game, very close from the McLarens,” Abiteboul said.
“It’s also good because it was simply a weekend that has happened without an issue, that developed itself without any particular problem and, therefore, we see what’s possible if we are capable of doing that.
“Frankly I can tell you that from Thursday, Friday onwards, it’s been a perfect execution, absolutely no mistakes, absolutely no incidents.
“So, in all respects, it’s a blueprint and an example of what needs to follow.”
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The pace in Montreal also came at just the perfect time ahead of Renault’s home race at Paul Ricard next weekend, with the Enstone outfit also bringing a significant upgrade to the French Grand Prix.
“I said the first priority was to fix the problem with the engine and that was done in Monaco,” the team boss said explaining the process.
“We said that the next step was an improvement to the chassis and there has been improvement, but more substantial is coming for Paul Ricard.
“We need to execute those improvements properly. There will have to be some tests and so on and so forth,” Abiteboul noted.
“But that should give us what we want, which is a bit of breathing space against the midfield.
“Then we can focus also and think a bit more medium-to-long-term to continue our development and to continue our improvement to the top teams.”