Renault targets Mercedes for fourth place in the constructors’ championship
After an outstanding performance at the Spa Francorchamps, Renault is confident that they can beat Mercedes for the fourth spot in the constructors’ championship overall by the end of this season.
Team Mercedes has been struggling this year for performance at recent tracks but their rivals Renault are progressing steadily with the development of their R30 this year. Robert Kubica gave the team their third podium of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix. The team believes that this was due to the successful introduction of the F-duct giving the team one of the best packages at Spa.
James Allison, the technical director for Renault reckons Mercedes is not far from Renault’s reach and the R30 will be quicker than Mercedes at the final six circuits.
Renault is currently 23 points behind Mercedes; the team has to outscore Mercedes by 4 points in each race to finish ahead of them in the constructors’ standings. “We only managed to take three points out of their lead in Spa, but I'm hopeful that if we can maintain our current level of competitiveness, we can start finishing ahead of Mercedes with both our cars. If we can achieve that, and race effectively with no reliability issues, we stand a good chance of catching them by the end of the year,” he said.
James said that by this stage of the season, most of the teams are spending most of their time working on their next year’s car and Renault is no exception. However, the team still has some tricks up their sleeves and they will be making a few more upgrades before the season ends, keeping in mind those upgrades will not be as significant as the ones in the start of the season.
Robert Kubica expects Renault will be competitive at Monza this weekend but is aware that when combined with low-downforce aero package, the F-duct will have less of an effect and the team might not even use it at all.
The young Polish driver began his Formula 1 journey with BMW Sauber in 2006 and statistically, he has produced some very good results. He took a podium in his very first season and managed to impress the professionals, since his car was not as powerful as the front running teams back then. Robert was able to finish in 16th place after scoring 6 points in just 6 races. The 25-year-old was able to score an impressive 6th place after scoring 39 points in his first full season the following year before scoring his first win in 2008 giving his best season performance, as he was able to secure the 4th place with the help of 75 points in the drivers’ standings. Robert was not able to maintain his momentum in 2009, as he secured a disappointing 14th place after scoring 17 points before leaving BMW Sauber. The Polish driver joined Renault for 2010 currently in 8th place with 89 points and has been able to score 3 podiums up until now including his third place at the Spa Francorchamps.
“Spa was a good example of how powerful the F-duct can be, and we were immediately more competitive and closer to the front when we fitted it,” he said.
He believes that the effect will not be as powerful, as it was at Spa as the cars run with less drag at Monza. However, there will still be an advantage if they use the F-duct properly so it would be quite interesting to see which teams use it and if Renault is able to as well. “This circuit can sometimes throw up some surprises, so I prefer to stay cautious when it comes to predictions. But if the car feels as good as it did in Spa, then there's no reason why we won't be competitive in Monza,” he added.
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