Having seen the continuing progression of Renault in the off-season, Nico Hulkenberg is ready for “exciting times ahead” with the French manufacturer in 2018.
On Tuesday, the team became the fifth to reveal their latest car, the R.S.18, which they hope can continue the strong upward trend as part of their long-term goal to be challenging for wins and the championship.
Though those expectations may still be a year or two away, the German, who joined 12 months ago based on the potential of the Renault project, still has high hopes of building on the sixth place in last year’s constructors’ championship.
“When I have visited Enstone and seen everything going on with the development of the R.S.18, I’m very enthused about the season ahead,” he proclaimed.
“Add that to the news from Viry about the development of the power unit and everything looks and sounds good; it’s all positive and there are exciting times ahead.”
The engine is the main topic of debate for many when considering the hopes of Renault and their customers this season, as they have remained unable to close the gap to their rivals at Mercedes and Ferrari and have struggled for reliability.
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The works team also faces the potential to be slower than both their customers, Red Bull and now McLaren, but for managing director Cyril Abiteboul his focus is elsewhere.
“We want to be able to showcase our progression in every regard; power unit, chassis, operations and drivers, everything must improve and we must continue to grow,” he said.
“We want to demonstrate this in many different ways, from the teams we will be directly racing against, to the gap to the leaders, including also our fan base and the respect that our team will inspire in our way we behave on and off track.”
