Renault concentrate on engine performance

Renault has come back to Formula One with a vengeance, settling into its fully-fledged engine/chassis partnership last year and this year already having two podium finishes, one pole position and both cars in the points in each race so far. Bernard Dudot was appointed deputy managing director of RenaultF1 at the start of this season and is happy with the way things are progressing.

"Almost everything has already been said about this engine," Dudot told the team website. "The RS23 has good reliability, even if we still have some details to sort out. It has reached a reasonable level of quality, and its performances during the first three Grands Prix demonstrate that. Of course, things are still a little tight in terms of power, but the priority was solving the reliability issues. We can now really concentrate on performance, which is something we haven't yet done."

Although the Dudot considers the R23 a beautiful engine, he thinks perhaps Renault needs to simplify its ideas: "Sometimes, you don't need something extremely complicated in order to win; what's important is the balance between sophistication and simplicity. We maybe went too far in terms of complexity, and we are currently working on simplifying certain processes and certain designs."

For the moment, Renault is concentrating on the next race but is also contemplating the future rule changes in regard to engines: "The secret to success in Formula 1 is having a clear vision of the future: you need to anticipate," said Dudot. "We need to be ahead in terms of possible regulation changes, and how F1 is evolving. We are working on a range of theories and increasing our areas of investigation."

Ferrari is due to debut its new F2003-GA at Imola next weekend and McLaren's MP4-18 is expected shortly afterwards. Dudot is pleased with Renault's results so far but knows they can't be complacent: "We've had both cars in the points at each of the first three races. Having said that, the new Ferrari and new McLaren are on their way. We are going to have to work even harder."

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