Renault aim to be amongst the front-runners in 2011
All the Formula One teams have set their eyes on the 2011 season. Amongst all these teams, Renault is also targeting a strong season ahead and is targeting a top-three finish.
The team has hinted on a very brave design for the 2011 season and the drivers are looking forward to testing next month. The new car will be launched in Valencia on 31 January.
The technical director of Renault, James Allison said, “This time of year is a heady mix of both thrilling excitement of finding out, confirming that all your plans are coming to fruition, and also abject terror that you will not deliver the thing in time.”
He further added, “Anyone who follows the sport will have seen that words like aggressive [and] brave are being bandied around across several of the teams this year for their solutions. I believe that we have chosen a direction that is really on the brave
end of brave.”
Team principal Eric Boullier also claimed that his team will be winning races in the next season. The team will come out with a new livery this year as they have also partnered with Group Lotus.
Boullier said, “The more attention we can get from the fans and the Lotus people and from all our sponsors, we put ourselves into a pressure mode because we have to win.”
He further admitted that the team was not competitive enough last year and that didn’t allow the drivers to match the pace of the front-runners. Renault finished in fifth place behind Mercedes GP in the 2010 season.
At one stage the team looked in better shape than Mercedes, and Robert Kubica produced some exceptional performances. However, he didn’t get brilliant support from his team-mate Vitaly Petrov. The Russian driver came under the scanner after the 2010 season
but after several rumours, he was retained as the second driver with Kubica.
There was also speculation last year that former Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen would be returning to the sport with Renault. However, Raikkonen denied all reports and alleged Renault of using his name for publicity.
Boullier said that other teams will also be well prepared for the upcoming season but he can only predict about his team. He claimed that his team will be a lot stronger than it had been in the 2010 season.
Last year’s champion were the Red Bull racing team. They were given some stiff competition from Mclaren-Mercedes and Ferrari but overall, Red Bull was way ahead of the other teams, and proved its dominance by securing both the Driver’s and Constructor’s
championship.
It will not be an easy task for Renault ahead. Although the team claims to be stronger than last season, others will also be well prepared. There were also some more challenges for the teams following the change in regulations by the sports governing body,
the FIA.
The performance of the teams will be dependant on their ability to adapt to the changes made by the FIA for the 2011 season. Next month's testing will reveal the level of competitiveness of the cars.
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