Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA

Renault could have high-speed fix for Canada

The Renault Formula 1 team believes it could have a fix for its high-speed understeer problem for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz Jr., Renault Sport F1 Team R.S. 18

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images

Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1 Team R.S. 18
Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1 Team R.S. 18
Carlos Sainz Jr., Renault Sport F1 Team R.S. 18, leads Brendon Hartley, Toro Rosso STR13, and Charles Leclerc, Sauber C37
Carlos Sainz Jr., Renault Sport F1 Team R.S. 18

Last month's Spanish GP - the previous F1 race on a conventional circuit - was disappointing for Renault, which was outpaced by 'best of the rest' rivals Haas and McLaren in qualifying.

Carlos Sainz then finished a lapped seventh, while Nico Hulkenberg was taken out in the first-lap pile-up.

Technical director Nick Chester said the understeer problem was the key weakness of the 2018 Renault, but that the team believed it had a solution.

"We struggle with a little bit of high-speed understeer and you go to Barcelona and that's going to be hard and it's going to be an extension of that problem," he said.

"We know how to solve it, it's just a long development to get bits to the track.

"We struggled a little bit at Barcelona in winter testing and didn't get a great balance on the car. We still struggled a bit to get a balance on the car when we went back for the race.

"We knew it would be a problem, and we've got a few bits coming for that kind of circuit in the second half of the season.

"We've got a fair idea [of the solution], it's just waiting for the specific parts that are going to help us, and they're due around Montreal-time."

Renault has scored in every grand prix this season and recently moved ahead of McLaren into fourth in the constructors' championship.

Its double-points finish in Monaco last time out inched it six points in front of McLaren, and it is now 20 clear of Force India with Haas and Toro Rosso both a further seven points back.

"It's positive that we're looking competitive and scoring points at the past few races," said Sainz.

"Now it's about building on this consistency and placing ourselves higher inside the top 10."

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Weekend preview (May 8-10): F1, FE, Gill and more
Next article Red Bull sets Austria engine decision deadline

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA