Formula One: Renault Hopeful to Jump Places on the Tally with Its F-Duct
The season at Formula One had been amazingly brilliant for the race lovers. A complete amalgam of entertainment and sport had been offered to the race fans in the early half of the season. There had been great racing spectacles, on and off track, conflicts and rivalries have added to the drama. Above all, the great technological advancements and up gradations in the cars have kept the race lovers engaged in the sport all through the season.
Earlier this year it was Red Bull that came up with their upgraded aerodynamic system, introducing the blown air diffuser, which began the balance of power war among the teams. With that, all the team factories have started working additional hours and putting in extra energy to match up theirs. Sooner or later all the teams have tried to come up with similar or their own versions of the blown diffusers to catch with the pace of Red Bull.
It was Ferrari earlier this season and at the last Grand Prix in Silverstone McLaren introduced their system and now it is Renault that have announced to use upgraded car later this year at the Spa track in the Belgian Grand Prix, which would be the thirteenth race of the season. The race is scheduled to be held by the end of August, with two more races to go in between, one at the end of this month in Germany and the other in the beginning of the next month in Budapest, Hungary.
Renault had been developing their own version of the F-duct and they claim that it is almost completed but the team prefers to launch it at the Belgian Grand Prix. Currently Renault is the only team using the front running outfit and had not tried the aero device even once all through the season. The team boss Eric Boullier says that they are currently in the testing phase and if the sample system works well they would be introducing it soon at the track in Spa.
He told that the team has a two-step F-duct but it depends on the schedule of the races when they would introduce it. He added that Budapest, Hungary offers a high down force track, so they are not sure whether they need it there or they could even get it before that.
Alan Permane, the Chief race engineer supported the team's decision to delay its F-duct advancement much longer than all its rivals. He said that the team had been focusing on other bits and bobs and had tried to put a lot of down force on the car, which he thinks was the right strategic decision instead of following blindly what the other teams did.
However, Permane agreed to the fact that Renault has fallen back behind Mercedes and also admits that the F-duct could help the team claim fourth place in the Constructors' Championship.
He proclaimed that their fight is mainly with the Ferraris and Mercedes. He added that if things are seen realistically, they are not actually in a position of snatching the title; therefore, they have set more achievable and practical goals.
At present the team stands at fifth place in the Constrictors’ Standings with a total of eighty nine points so far, one place behind Mercedes GP which had been able to bag one twenty six points.
However, their race engineer added that they need a little more push to beat Mercedes GP and he thinks that their F-duct would help the team do better, as this is probably all they are missing as compared to other teams on the track.
He concluded that he is happy for he thinks that the team has already over performed and have been successful in making the most out of the car in the past few races.
It is only a couple of races to go and the race fans could witness how far the so promising F-Duct could take the team.
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