Eric Boullier says Renault has to deliver perfect races - Formula 1
Formula 1 Renault team boss, Eric Boullier, has said that his team has to have a perfect run in up-coming races of the 2011 season because they have been strong competitors of in previous years. He added that Renault cannot afford to have bad performance
in races, if they are willing to play with the ‘big boys’ of Formula 1.
The Enstone-based outfit had a strong start in the first two events of this season. The races, held in Australia and Malaysia, saw both drivers Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld finish on the podium for their team. After their successful runs, the team had
a disappointing weekend in Shanghai, where they ended their race with only two supportive points.
Before the start of the season, the team boss wanted the whole season balanced and positive, but during the Malaysia race, Petrov experienced a horrific shunt and as a result, he dropped his overall position. After the race, Boullier described the Petrov’s
shunt, committed during the Sepang race, as ‘terrifying’. He further added that it was horrific to see the car jump so high at turn eight.
On the other hand, Petrov expressed his thoughts about the shunt and commented that may be the rubber marbles on the circuit have contributed towards his stunning exit from the Formula 1 Sepang race. He appreciated the tyres and said that the tyres really
helped him to get his fastest laps during the race. Renault was also happy with Nick Heidfeld’s place in the Malaysian Grand Prix. They admitted that he really worked hard during the build-up to the race and made an impressive run for his team.
With regards to the China race, the Renault boss said, "If you look at Q2, Vitaly's pace showed where we should have been. If we have this pace, then we need to have perfect weekends. We cannot afford to have any bad weekends and definitely to have a perfect
weekend we need to be ready to cope with everything.”
Vitaly experienced problems in the Chinese Grand Prix, which started in the qualifying round, when his car lost power signals and as a result, it forced him to stop on the side of the circuit. Due to these issues, he could only manage ninth place for the
team, while his team-mate Heidfeld was at 12th position.
Boullier went on to add, "Vitaly's engine problem was not our fault obviously, but we could have clearly briefed our drivers on how to get rid of this. But that was not done. That incident affected Heidfeld's qualifying, and it was a snowball effect from
then on.”
He also discussed strong driver strategy and highlighted Mercedes Nico Rosberg and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. He explained that most drivers applied good strategy, while Renault drivers were unable to manage their plans during the race. In the end, he told
the media that for the remaining races the team has planned to introduce a new rear wing on the R31 car. He added, "It's the famous rear wing. We definitely would like to keep our position and fighting for fifth or sixth place. That would be a good step."
The competition becomes tougher, as the season moves towards the most challenging races of the calendar. It will be interesting to see where the Renault team ends up after a horrible weekend in China.
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