{"id":4399,"date":"2017-11-08T18:24:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T18:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f1vault.co.uk\/?p=4399"},"modified":"2017-11-08T18:24:48","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T18:24:48","slug":"f1-today-08112017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/f1-today-08112017\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 Today – 08\/11\/2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTall order\u201d to catch Williams <\/strong><\/p>\n

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul has admitted it is a \u201ctall order\u201d for the French manufacturer to catch and take fifth place from Williams to achieve its target for 2017.<\/p>\n

Renault went into the season full of optimism with the target of finishing four places higher than they managed last season. The team has enjoyed a much stronger run of results this year and currently sits seventh in the constructor’s championship.<\/p>\n

However, a double DNF in Mexico has made that a little harder as the team currently sits twenty-eight points behind fifth-placed Williams and six points behind Toro Rosso. Abiteboul told ESPN \u201cThe team remains confident and united, which is essential to maintain progress to the end of the season, and also for our preparations for 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis season we set ourselves the goal of fifth in the constructors’ championship. Whilst achieving this is still mathematically possible, it is now a tall order after a race where we didn’t score points.\u201d The Frenchman says that getting both cars into Q3 in Mexico highlighted the potential performance and that points were clearly within reach.<\/p>\n

Carlos Sainz who made his debut for the team in Austin says that he believes Renault’s performance in recent races is proof that it has a car at its disposal that is capable of returning to the top ten in Brazil.<\/p>\n

“Mexico was difficult — I had a high-speed spin early on in the race which hampered my running. After the last few races, I think we have a car that can be in the top ten. We need to keep both cars on track and aim for points again in Brazil. We need to fightback.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Too aggressive with Mexico approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cyril Abiteboul has also been speaking about Renault\u2019s engine development focus for next season, saying that it was too aggressive with their approach to the Mexican Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

For the last two races, the French manufacturer brought a revised engine for the race, which featured development parts for 2018 as well as a gain two tenths per lap. However, in the race, three out of six of the Renault powered cars retired.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Abiteboul said, \u201cWe know the update is working, there is no doubt about that but it’s an update that is only bringing a portion of what we want to bring over the winter and 2018 has to be the focus now.\u201d<\/p>\n

This season Renault has failed to close the power deficit to Ferrari and Mercedes, however, it is hopeful that it can close the gap over the winter. Adding \u201cThe target for the winter is to close that gap for Sunday and to understand what we can do in terms of qualifying mode.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mercedes to try \u201cnew and interesting\u201d concepts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mercedes are to trial \u201cnew and interesting\u201d concepts in the final two Grand Prix\u2019s of the season. The team has wrapped up its fourth consecutive constructors’ and drivers’ championship already, despite the strong challenge from Ferrari.<\/p>\n

In the team’s preview for this weekends Brazilian Grand Prix, they say \u201cthe first two test opportunities ahead of the new season, trialling new and interesting concepts.\u201d Mercedes have pledged to be \u201ca little bolder,\u201d and to \u201cexperiment\u201d with parts that they couldn\u2019t have during the title race.<\/p>\n

Team boss Toto Wolff said: “It might be tempting to think that, with both championships now secure, the pressure is off for the two remaining races of 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInside the team, we are looking at the next two race weekends as the first two grand prix’s of 2018. We have two races that we are determined to win in order to take that positive momentum into the winter.\u201d The Austrian added they would not be backing off now the titles are sealed.<\/p>\n

Wolff said both drivers should expect to win in Brazil but predicts Ferrari and Red Bull, will be legitimate contenders. Adding \u201cRecent rounds have shown, winning grands prix is never easy. Red Bull \u00a0have taken two victories in the past four races and, although we have claimed the other two, Ferrari remain formidable opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Red Bull looking to attack <\/strong><\/p>\n

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the team moving the launch of next years car forward by five days will allow the team to go on the attack from the first race.<\/p>\n

The British based team made a slow start this season because of wind tunnel correlation issues, however, since the summer they have managed to outscore Ferrari. Next season, to avoid a slow start the team will wait until the last moment to launch the car to maximise development.<\/p>\n

Red Bull is bringing the deadline forward by five days to help them hit the ground running, with Horner believing that it will help get the ground running. He told Autosport \u201c”We are focusing on a slightly earlier release target, which only involves about five days,” said Horner.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the design is so concertinaed and production schedules so tight, that those five days are actually pretty valuable in terms of being on the front foot rather than the back foot.\u201d He added. Red Bull\u2019s target is to go to the first test and do a hundred laps a day.<\/p>\n

Red Bull has won two out of the last four races, which has given Horner confidence that the team can carry the momentum into 2018. \u201cIf we can take these learnings into next year’s car then hopefully we can start on a stronger footing than the second or so we were off in Melbourne at the beginning of this year.\u201d He added.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

McLaren takes confidence from Red Bull<\/strong><\/p>\n

McLaren has taken confidence from Red Bull\u2019s victories this season that there is nothing to worry about when they switch to Renault power next season.<\/p>\n

Despite Renault having their own reliability issues team bosses Eric Boullier and Zak Brown are adamant that they have seen nothing that worries them. Saying they actually are encouraged by the fact that the Renault engine has helped\u00a0Red Bull\u00a0to win two of the last four races.<\/p>\n

Boullier, who is also Renault\u2019s former team principal, told Motorsport.com \u201cFixing reliability is a challenge, but it is always easier than finding performance,” Boullier told Motorsport.com.<\/p>\n

“What I just would like to take on board is that in Malaysia and Mexico, they were proper runaway wins.<\/p>\n

“The Renault engine won two races in the last four races, and in a very fair and clean manner. So no concern at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Haas could benefit from driver swaps<\/strong><\/p>\n

Romain Grosjean says that the recent driver changes at Toro Rosso could help Haas leapfrog their rivals and gain position in the constructor’s championship before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The American team is currently eighth in the constructors, one point behind Renault and six points behind Toro Rosso with two races remaining. While Grosjean thinks Renault is too far head, he says Haas can take advantage of Toro Rosso\u2019s inexperienced lineup.<\/p>\n

He told ESPN \u201cI think out of those teams, Renault is the faster one. They’ve got a really good car through to the end of the season. They’ve had a bit more of a difficult time in the races, which has allowed us to close the gap and keep them in sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cToro Rosso is the one we can try to go for. They’re not performing better than we are, and they’ve got less experience amongst their drivers, so that should help us.\u201d \u00a0Grosjean says they are doing everything they can to get those positions.<\/p>\n

Haas now has the target of higher than last year, though team principal Guenther Steiner says that sixth could be in reach because of Renaults reliability issues.<\/p>\n

But added \u201cIt’s very difficult because we’re fighting with teams which are as good, if not better than us. Renault is a works team. They’ve got a lot of people working for them. They’ve made good progress over this year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTall order\u201d to catch Williams Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul has admitted it is a \u201ctall order\u201d for the French manufacturer to catch and take fifth place from Williams to achieve its target for 2017. Renault went into the season full of optimism with the target of finishing four places higher than they managed last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[43,308,309,369,412,478,538,616,638,675,754,882,885,1287,1289,1298,1637,1642,1656,1707,2031,2189],"class_list":["post-4399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-analysis","tag-43","tag-brazilian-gp","tag-brazilian-grand-prix","tag-carlos-sainz-jr","tag-christian-horner","tag-cyril-abiteboul","tag-developments","tag-engine-devlopment","tag-eric-bolliuer","tag-f1-today","tag-formula-one","tag-haas","tag-haas-ferrari","tag-mclaren","tag-mclaren-honda","tag-mercedes","tag-red-bull","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-renault","tag-romain-grosjean","tag-toto-wolff","tag-zak-brown"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}