To illustrate that the 2017 season is well and truly underway, we now head to China for the start of the first back-to-back combination of races.
Race one in Australia showed that we have the pace but not necessarily the complete execution with the R.S.17. We definitely had potential to finish in the points at Albert Park, so that is what we should have achieved.
Clearly, this latest generation Formula 1 has intensified the need to deliver at maximum potential in every regard. We need to ensure that the car is in the right place at the right time, whether that our strategists finding the best clear air on track, our mechanics and every component on the car is faultless, our pit stops occurring as quickly as possible and our power unit is being harnessed in the most efficient manner possible. We must always deliver at the top of our game.
At short term, the main point is reliability.
We didn’t have any ERS but we did experience other issues – most notably Jolyon’s brakes in the race – so we clearly have work to do.
The big positive we take from Melbourne is that we have the pace to be where we want to be: fight for points. If we do everything right, we will fight for fifth place in the championship by the end of the season.
The performance of the power unit seems to be delivering at the level we expected and we know there is more to come. In due course we will revert to the 2017-specification MGU-K and we will also introduce upgrades but this will only happen if we achieve the reliability level we need.
In China we want to achieve what we didn’t in Australia; make it into Q3 and finish in the points. It’s a completely different circuit and last year it wasn’t a great race for us so we want to do much better.
China is important for Formula 1 and it’s important for Renault. It’s a market of growth for Renault with Formula 1 providing part of the framework for this growth. We will have strong activations off track and then following the Grand Prix we will present something entirely new and forward-looking at the Shanghai Motor Show.
Motorsport is an area of exciting development in China with plans to double the number of FIA certified circuits over the coming decade. Renault Sport is contributing to this growth with our Road to Champion programme in conjunction with Dongfeng Renault Automotive Company and Formula Racing Development, our partner for Asian Formula Renault. Over 40,000 drivers have already applied to be part of the 2017 programme so it’s a very exciting initiative. Our 2016 winner, Marcus Song Xu Jie, will be joining us in Shanghai as will Renault Sport Academy driver Sun Yue Yang.
Closer to home we have a new appointment at Enstone with Naoki Tokunaga appointed as Chief Transformation Officer from April 1. Naoki has most recently served as Technical Director at Viry and was previously Deputy Technical Director at Enstone so he knows both our operations intimately. His new role is in line with our evolving structure as we adapt to the current needs. We have now reached the 600 mark in terms of headcount at Enstone so there has been a significant increase in resource over the past 15 months.
