Renault is confident their power units will not have the same amount of reliability flaws which have impacted all three teams using them this season, with development much more advanced than a year ago.
Though Honda’s woes have caught most of the engine-related headlines, the French manufacturer has also had far from an ideal year with problems arising with the overhauled design they introduced and causing multiple retirements for the likes of Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Jolyon Palmer throughout 2017.
As far back as June, Renault confirmed no major upgrades would be introduced as they focused on next season’s unit and with even tighter limits coming on the number of elements allowed before penalties are applied, Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul admits there are worries.
“We do have some parts that are capable of covering thousands of kilometres, in fact, tens of thousands of kilometres – like the energy store or the MGU-K,” he told Autosport. “But there are some specific parts that are giving us headaches, and for which reliability has been a concern this year.
“We know it is going to be a concern again next year, so it is still a bit early to confirm, but what can I tell you is that we are months in advance with our reliability programme in comparison to last year. So hopefully it will have a positive impact into next year.”
Renault is facing a key moment in terms of performance next year with their engine now seen as the only hurdle preventing Red Bull from challenging for the title while their works team is also now moving up towards the head of the midfield.
In looking to optimise reliability, Abiteboul revealed more comprehensive procedures both in the engine department at Viry and the team factory at Enstone were being introduced.
“We are going to slightly change our philosophy – and going to be much more rigid on planning team milestones of the different projects – on the engine project and the chassis project,” he said.
“We want to make sure that reliability is right as soon as the winter tests begin; that we are covering lots of mileage in the winter tests and so on and so forth. And hopefully, that will propagate again into the season.
“It is always difficult because time is extremely limited but we want to improve all the elements of the package, and it is a question of how late you dare brake in relation to that.
“But Remi [Taffin, F1 engine chief] in particular is very rigid in his approach to sticking to milestones in particular on the engine side.”
