Renault balance "not good enough" despite updates

Hulkenberg qualified seventh in China and Bahrain, but only managed to take two points away from the two rounds, with the RS17 performing much better over one lap than in race trim.

Having identified a lack of car balance as a likely factor behind its race pace deficiencies, Renault trialled aero updates – headlined by a new front wing – in the Bahrain test, with Hulkenberg saying on Thursday in Sochi that he was expecting the new parts to "take the car a step forward".

However, the German was less positive after Friday running, admitting: "I wasn't so impressed with my long run and the balance that I had.

"Got some work to do, and I hope we can get it more together for a long run on Sunday."

He added: "It's just how the car works here and the balance we got. It's hard to say what the update does because the track is so different [to Bahrain], it couldn't be more different.

"We just have to work with what we have and what we have at the moment is not good enough so we need to try and make it a bit better."

Teammate Jolyon Palmer, who did not take part in the Bahrain post-GP test, was a lot more positive on the impact of the updates than Hulkenberg.

"I'm happy with how the car was and it's a good direction we're going in - maybe we just need to fine-tune it," Palmer said.

"I've got a good feeling with the car today, I think it's much more consistent than it was [during the grand prix weekend] in Bahrain and I'm happy with the general performance.

"I think in Bahrain we struggled with inconsistencies across the sessions but we managed to pull it out qualifying but it was really tough at times. I think here we've started on the better foot and I think the updates have helped that."