Nico Hulkenberg believes Renault can mount a challenge for the top five in the constructors’ standings with a series of strong results in the latter half of the season.
After 11 rounds, there are just 15 points between Williams in fifth and Renault in eighth amidst an intense battle in Formula 1’s midfield.
It is a scrap which will be decided by fine margins, with the lucrative top six positions dominated by Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Hulkenberg, who has scored all 26 of his team’s points, accepts that eye-catching results will be hard to come by but is confident Renault can climb the pecking order.
“I think it is achievable,” he told Autosport when asked whether Renault could achieve their goal of fifth place.
“It won’t be easy. We really have to get sweet race weekends, pretty much all of them, which is never easy. But I feel now the car has more potential than in the first half. This should allow us to go for better results.
“The top six is always the top three teams. If the top six cars make it, they are always in front of us. They are just too far ahead at the moment.
“But certainly I feel that we can score a good bunch of points in the second part of the season. And hopefully even a bit more and set the odd highlight.”
Hulkenberg feels the team have fulfilled their expectations for the first half of the season but says they are now beginning to make real strides.
“I think [the first 11 races] went pretty much as per expectation,” the German said. “Where we thought in the winter we would be, we really turned out to be there.
“Obviously car performance [wise] recently we made some really good improvements, a step forward, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in all the different areas.
“So we still have a long road ahead of us, but I feel the second half of the season should offer us some opportunities.”
