Renault and McLaren expect to take their battle for fourth in the Constructors’ standings to the next level at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The French manufacturer has cut the gap to their customer team by more than half in the past two races alone, with 18 points separating them ahead of the final seven flyaway races to round out 2019.
A combination of low downforce suiting the Renault and reliability issues for McLaren led to the significant shift and now the ambition at the Enstone-based outfit is to continue their momentum.
“The team left Italy on a real high,” driver Nico Hulkenberg said, with him and teammate Daniel Ricciardo taking fifth and fourth respectively at Monza.
“The whole weekend was a super effort from everyone, starting with a solid qualifying result and then a strong race to move up a position.
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“We’ve made a big swing in the Constructors’ Championship and the race for fourth is on. We have to develop this now and aim to pick up these kinds of results more regularly.
“It’s certainly possible and we won’t be letting up.”
For Renault, Singapore poses a tricky prospect with high downforce needed for the street circuit, but no significant high-speed corners where McLaren is stronger.
Also, maintaining consistency has been another issue and for Ricciardo, fixing that is crucial.
“It was nice to have my best result for the team in Italy,” he said of his comfortable P4.
“We know now there will be eyes on us to repeat that, but I can see no reason why we can’t string together more solid results and really chase down fourth place. The challenge excites me.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris responded to the renewed Renault threat, believing the pendulum will swing back in their favour.
“In Italy, Renault had a great weekend and they did everything they had to do,” he said via Motorsport-Total.
“That is something we have been able to do many weekends, but now it was their turn. It was because there are many straights and slow turns
“I hope we can perform better in Singapore and not be surprised again. Renault has been good this season, but have not always scored points.
“Hopefully, Italy was just an incident and we can turn the tide in Singapore again.”
