Breaking news

Formula 1 Canadian GP

Renault confident Montreal upgrade will be big step

Renault Sport F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul is confident that the engine upgrade due to be introduced in Montreal will represent a significant step forward for the French manufacturer.

Adam Cooper

Adam Cooper

Edited: May 15, 2016, 8:49 AM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Kevin Magnussen, Renault Sport F1 Team RS16

Renault Sport F1 Team motorhome

Remi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 Engine Technical Director with Jonathan Wheatley, Red Bull Racing Team

Jolyon Palmer, Renault Sport F1 Team RS16

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB12

Kevin Magnussen, Renault Sport F1 Team RS16

Cyril Abiteboul, Renault Sport F1 Managing Director in the FIA Press Conference

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB12

The revised power unit will be tested by both Renault and Red Bull in Barcelona on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it won't be raced in Monaco, where ultimate power is not at a premium.

“What we did over the winter was already substantial, and this upgrade is not far off that,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

“That's something which will visibly reduce the gap between a Renault engine and a Mercedes engine, and therefore will give the capacity for Red Bull to be in the fight for podiums on occasion, and clearly be very close to Ferrari.”

Abiteboul said that the full upgrade will be run next week: “It's the first time that we will be running it properly. So you never exploit 100% of what it has to offer.

"But, from a hardware perspective, it's all of the spec that will be introduced in Montreal.”

Tokens

The FIA has yet to confirm how many tokens the changes will represent. “We are still in discussion with the FIA on that one," Abiteboul said.

"We should continue to have some tokens left over, but you need to completely disconnect usage of tokens from performance.

"You can use all your 32 tokens or whatever without creating any performance, and with one token you can have one magic bullet which is creating a lot.

“With what we have understood now, we now have a ratio of performance per token which is much higher than last year.”

As previously reported, Abiteboul is hopeful that the improved performance will encourage Red Bull to make an early commitment to a 2017 supply.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Renault qualifying report: Magnussen sets the fifteenth fastest time

Next article Formula 1 evaluating second version of Halo

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

Adam Cooper



RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024

Formula 1

Formula 1

Japanese GP

RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024



Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team

Formula 1

Formula 1

Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team



Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility

Formula 1

Formula 1

Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility

More from

Red Bull Racing



Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss

Formula 1

Formula 1

Singapore GP

14 h

Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss



Christian Horner opens up on Red Bull F1 exit: “Perhaps it was perceived I had too much influence over the team”

Formula 1

Formula 1 17 h

Christian Horner opens up on Red Bull F1 exit: “Perhaps it was perceived I had too much influence over the team”



Christian Horner's inside story of how Red Bull built its own F1 engine

Formula 1

Christian Horner's inside story of how Red Bull built its own F1 engine

Latest news



Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

4 h

Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts



Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

8 h

Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict



Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 9 h

Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test



Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

10 h

Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics

Feature

Discover prime content



Christian Horner's inside story of how Red Bull built its own F1 engine

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Christian Horner's inside story of how Red Bull built its own F1 engine



Exclusive video: Christian Horner interview on his Red Bull exit, Mercedes rivalry and more

Formula 1

By Autosport

Exclusive video: Christian Horner interview on his Red Bull exit, Mercedes rivalry and more



Why Mercedes' latest 2026 F1 update is no downgrade

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Mercedes' latest 2026 F1 update is no downgrade



'Senior moment' or breakdown of trust? The implications of Hamilton's Singapore GP meltdown

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Stuart Codling

'Senior moment' or breakdown of trust? The implications of Hamilton's Singapore GP meltdown

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe