Why "damaged" Renault is not changing its 2019 targets

Renault targeted securing a clear fourth place in the 2019 constructors' championship, while closing the gap to the top teams. Right now, it’s down in eighth. But it has made changes to try and recuse its campaign and deliver its key aims

Jonathan Noble May 16, 2019, 10:40 AM

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As Renault Formula 1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul left the Barcelona circuit last Sunday night after his team had failed to score - again - and slipped to eighth in the standings, he had little doubt that the dark cloud that has hung over the manufacturer since Bahrain was still there.

It was just a few cruel seconds in Bahrain. Four laps from home, Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo ground to a halt within metres of each other at the first corner. It has been enough to derail Renault's 2019 campaign.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.