Renault is brushing off concerns over their performance last year and for the upcoming 2020 season with all their focus solely on 2021.
The French manufacturer saw three seasons of strong growth stall as, rather than close on the top teams, they instead slipped behind their engine customer McLaren to fifth in the Constructors’ standings.
Already there are signals that this year, 2020, could also perhaps be disappointing but team boss Cyril Abiteboul insists their approach is the right one to once again be a top team in F1.
“Everything in our programme has been built around that long-term target of 2021 because, in accordance with our strategy, that’s really the first opportunity to make that happen,” he said via Crash.net.
“But before 2021, there is 2019, there is 2020 and there is a short term result and a short term pressure that everyone is putting on all of us. That’s fine. Again, that’s part of the sport.”
Also Read:
- Ricciardo admits Renault lows were lower than expected in 2019
- Ocon says ‘it’s a relief’ to be at Renault as he sets ambitious 2020 target
- Renault & Williams reveal financial challenge of 2021 but its a different story at Ferrari
Thoughts of another compromised season may not sit well with Daniel Ricciardo, who made the bold leap from Red Bull by believing in the potential of Renault to close the gap to the top three teams.
Looking back, however, the team boss believes 2019 can be seen as a year of consolidation.
“There’s been many tough moments, there’s been good moments also,” Abiteboul stated. “I think it’s important to take a bit of distance, so if you ask me, it’s really to manage, to learn about the resilience that you need in this sport.
“Sometimes people don’t believe how difficult it is as a sport, as a business also, given the difficulty and the way that the world is changing. We are on a ramp-up.
“The difficulty first was to maintain that P4 position now that McLaren has been able to come back from where they were before. The main difficulty will be not to stay P5 or P4 because we should not be content with that but to bridge the gap with the top teams.
“That will be the next difficulty and still the target for us. It’s a target for 2021.”