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Renault won't rush further engine upgrades
Renault will only introduce further major engine upgrades if it serves its development programme for the 2017 F1 season, according to technical director Remi Taffin.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: Jun 6, 2016, 10:11 AM
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The French manufacturer decided to use three development tokens for its first big upgrade of the season, with the engine being introduced in the Monaco Grand Prix, where Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo gave his team its first pole position since the 2013 season.
The power unit was only available to Ricciardo and Renault's Kevin Magnussen, but their respective teammates Max Verstappen and Jolyon Palmer will, too, get the upgrade for Canada this week.
While the upgraded engine proved to be a significant step forward compared to its predecessor, Taffin says there are no fixed plans to introduce further major updates unless they are aimed at next year.
"Only if it's helping us for next year," Taffin told Motorsport.com about further upgrades this year. "At the moment we don't have any plans to say there will be a very good upgrade at that race and so on.
"We need to make this one work, which is the case and now we are going to get the most out of it and then, if we get anything in our development programme for next year to fit into this year, we will be doing that.
"Again, we've got a plan, and it was going into 2017 trying to make sure that by the first race of 2017 we are close to Mercedes to challenge them, and we will try to stick to that plan.
"Obviously we are trying to get as competitive as we can, so trying to push forward the B-spec was an achievement to us, and I think it was good for everyone."
Renault still has 21 tokens remaining - more than any other manufacturer - but Taffin insists they need to be used wisely.
"It's not really a matter of tokens this year," he said. "At the end of last year we used a lot of tokens that were not very fruitful due to the fact that we could not put everything in.
"That's why this year when we used six tokens for the first race it gave us a lot, and then another three... Everything has been shifting, so we get the rewards from last year.
"It's quite simple. We didn't make magic."
Taffin explained that the main changes introduced to the upgraded engine were in the combustion chamber.
"We have been raising our game in the internal combustion engine, so we basically tweaked the ignition system and took the benefit of a more efficient combustion system to try to get the most out of it.
"And the three tokens is basically based on the fact that we've been changing the combustion chamber."
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