Renault's Engine Operations Manager is pleased after a weekend of faultless reliability and consistent performance in Melbourne.
Denis, how pleased are you with Renault's performance under the new regulations?
Overall, I am extremely satisfied. The race really represented a form of confirmation for us, that we had tackled the weekend in the right way and prepared properly for the race, running a similar number of laps in practice to our main rivals (615km between two cars). The weekend was problem-free apart from the collision at the first corner that limited Jarno's speed during the Grand Prix.
And what about the cars' performance in race conditions?
Very pleasing, and definitely in line with our hopes for the start of the season. I think the race demonstrated that we have the equipment to be fighting at the front of the pack. On the condition we can qualify reasonably well and get a good start, it showed we can maintain a very respectable level of performance throughout the race.
What hope does this positive result give you for the rest of the season?
We had no problems this weekend under the 2004 format, which is already a very positive first sign. Following on from that, we have the reassurance of knowing there are more performance steps coming during the season, and although we are pleased with the speed we currently possess, we won't be resting on our laurels. We have completed a first race weekend during which we were on the pace of everybody except Ferrari, and I think we can realistically expect the gaps to be somewhat closer in the prevailing conditions at Sepang.
Press release
Renault F1 Team