Breaking news
Formula 1
Renault as fast as McLaren, says Abiteboul
Renault Formula 1 boss Cyril Abiteboul says his team was as fast as rival McLaren in the French Grand Prix, despite losing out to the Woking squad.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jun 26, 2019, 4:14 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
At Paul Ricard, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz qualified fifth and sixth, while Renault's Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg started eighth and 13th, the latter handicapped by a technical issue in Q2.
In the race, Sainz won the battle between the two teams by finishing sixth, while Ricciardo was the best-placed Renault driver in seventh until penalties for last lap incidents bumped him out of the points.
Read Also:
Abiteboul stressed that his team lost the battle with McLaren in qualifying and was potentially faster in race trim.
"It's an OK result, being in the points is good, but we are targeting more points than that," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.
"We've seen that we are just as quick if not quicker than McLaren when not held back, but obviously McLaren was so much faster in qualifying, and that's what matters the most in current F1.
"On different compounds and on the longer runs we are much more competitive against them and the rest of the field. That's going to be the focus in Austria, where probably it's going to be extremely hot, and we know the track can be extremely damaging for the tyres."
Abiteboul expects to see an ongoing fight with Renault's customer team.
"McLaren is a good brand, they are a car maker, which matters to us. They are our partner and customer team, so their success is also coming from our contribution. That's good and positive, and it's also showing on the chassis side what's possible.
"Having said that we are not miles away, and we were much faster than them in Montreal. What I expect is to see an interesting battle with McLaren for the remainder of the season.
"They are ahead, only the points matter, only the Sunday result matters. We put ourselves after qualifying, looking at the qualifying, but looking at the race, it's much more on par.
"But again the only thing that matters in modern F1 is firstly the points and secondly the qualifying, because it's so difficult to overtake, either because of the aerodynamics or the current stance of the FIA on these things."
Abiteboul admitted that it was not clear whether the upgrades brought to France had achieved their target, with the next batch due for Silverstone.
"We need to investigate a bit more, some of them definitely paid out. I have to accept that we didn't bring all that was planned, some of the upgrades have been delayed, some of the upgrades are not totally clear cut and need further analysis, probably at a track where it's more straightforward.
"The behaviour of the soft compound was confusing any sort of analysis over the weekend."
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 Viber
Previous article Silverstone could host 2020 in-season F1 test
Next article Promoted: Inspiring the next generation of female engineers
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
McLaren
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
17 h
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Latest news
Christian Horner admits that F1 rivalry with Toto Wolff became "theatre"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 38 min
Christian Horner admits that F1 rivalry with Toto Wolff became "theatre"
Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
6 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
10 h
Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict
Feature
Discover prime content
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:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe