Renault restructure sees sporting director Steve Nielsen leave the team after 2011 – Formula 1
Renault’s Formula 1 team restructure sees their technical director Steve Nielson leaving the team at the end of the 2011 season.
Renault team boss Eric Boullier had previously stated that the team is financially on sound grounds and the next step is to make a winning car.
Boullier has previously pointed that technical changes can be expected from the team and now he states, “It's a principal of any competitor to always look at yourself. We are still looking at finishing the restructuring of the team to be better.”
Nielsen is leaving the team after a former technical and operations manager of A1GP, John Wickham was called by the Renault team to test the car for its weaknesses. Nielsen has been with the team for the last 10 years.
Renault’s performance in the 2011 season reached its summit quite early when both Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld enjoyed a podium sitting in the opening two races of the championship.
After that, the Renault duo struggled to keep up the pace but is constantly finishing among points.
Still, Boullier thinks that the team needs more technical boost. Furthermore, Boullier added that the team did suffer from some financial depletion which hindered some development processes in the team.
“There is no smoke without fire. So it's clear there was some stress, let's say, on a couple of processes to be done financially, just because it's always three or four parties getting together and if one of them fails that causes a mess in the loop,” stated
Boullier.
Nevertheless, after seven races in the 2011 season, Renault have managed to hold onto their position from the Mercedes team and are currently placed fourth in the championship battle.
Renault have managed two podium positions in the first seven races of the season and sometimes managed to challenge the top ranked teams in the race and in qualifiers.
The 2011 season continues with the eighth of the 19 scheduled races to be contested in Valencia in two weeks’ time.
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