Bob Bell: We have been very good at finding our strong points

A balancing act

By Franck Drui

23 August 2016 - 11:19
Bob Bell: We have been very good (...)

Renault F1 Chief technical officer Bob Bell looks at juggling 2017 objectives and the team’s long-term goals with an improving 2016 performance.

We’re just over the halfway point of the season and you’ve had a little over six months to have a good look at the team. How would you review everything so far?

It’s been a genuine challenge. Clearly we are not as competitive as we would have liked, but in some respects we are not surprised at this form. All teams are finding it hard to unlock real performance gains, partly due to the current stability in regulations that makes it tricky to find the final parts of the puzzle. It’s also partly due to a concerted effort on 2017, which will see big regulation changes. It’s not just hard for us, but for everyone on the grid. That said, we have been very good at finding our strong points and exploiting them, and since Hungary we have seen some genuine progress.

What would you rate as the team’s strong points?

Firstly, there is the very obvious point that we are a works’ team and can shape the destiny of our engine and chassis. This is only shared by Mercedes and Ferrari, so it’s a real advantage. We can fully integrate the two different areas and make the sum of the whole more than the sum of its parts. It is an important facet of our performance and we need to be able to exploit it better than others.

Secondly there is the heritage of the team and the hunger for championship success. I can see a real determination to return to the same levels of success. Even though we need to build up to winning, you can see there is a drive, will and experience to recapture what we achieved in the past.

Since Renault returned we have also had increased investment flowing into the team. Some tired facilities have, or will be, refreshed, the sites are being developed and we are building up the headcount. This is all part of a long-term plan as some areas, particularly recruitment, take time to come on stream.

You mentioned that 2017 is a big challenge. With half of 2016 already run, how do you split resources in the second part of the year?

It’s a difficult call to decide on the resource split and it really depends on your aspirations for 2016 versus your aspirations for 2017 to decide when to switch. As per most teams we are now winding up 2016 and putting all our effort into 2017.

Spa is a fearsome challenge on the calendar. How do you think the team will fare in Belgium?

Spa is the longest track of the year at 7km and very fast with a good mix of high and medium speed corners, sweeping sections and some low speed corners in the mix. There’s also elevation changes and you always have unpredictable weather too! It will be difficult for us, but the work we have done in the last races should stand us in good stead. We’ve got a better handle on car balance and I think we should be able to keep our current level of performance. We’ve not got a major upgrade, but we should see the progress made in the last two races transfer forward to Spa. We fought with Haas and Toro Rosso and I think we are capable of getting on their tails again. There will be some developments coming through that were scheduled to come on stream in the second part of the year so even though our focus will primarily be on 2017 after the shutdown, we should still be able to improve upon our current level of form.

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