Renault believes they head to Bahrain stronger after understanding their shortcomings in Australia.
The French manufacturer was expected to be the fourth best team to begin 2019 but neither car made Q3 in qualifying in Melbourne.
Nico Hulkenberg would make up for the gap in the race, moving from P11 to P7, but managing director Cyril Abiteboul hopes to show more potential in the desert.
“We are determined to show more in Bahrain,” he said in his preview. “We have to underline the step we’ve made on the engine side, and the second Grand Prix of 2019 is an opportunity to showcase that.
“We will bring some aero updates, as we will do at every race, but we also need to target consistency over the course of the entire weekend, delivering a balanced and reliable car in all sessions to allow the drivers to extract respective maximum performance.”
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It is single-lap pace which has been highlighted as Renault’s main weakness, but technical director Nick Chester claims answers have been found.
“Australia was a mixed weekend, we didn’t qualify where the cars deserved to be in terms of pace and that was down to execution in some areas and a reliability problem which is now understood,” he explained.
“It shows the midfield is so close and that any small mistake or dip in performance means you’ll lose places on the grid.”
Also eager for a strong result is Daniel Ricciardo, who was left frustrated following an early exit from his home Grand Prix.
“I’ve had a bit of rest and recovery between these two race weekends, so I head to Bahrain feeling recharged,” he said.
“It’s a circuit I’ve always enjoyed racing at. There are some decent overtaking spots on a lap, and it will be interesting to see if there’s any difference in cars following each other there especially down the main straight.
“Hopefully we can be in amongst it this weekend, but first, we need to ensure we’re quick in qualifying and be at the top end of the midfield,” the Aussie concluded.