Q&A with Fred Vasseur (Renault F1) before Monaco

Fred Vaseur looks forward to Monaco and back over Barcelona

By Franck Drui

21 May 2016 - 11:20
Q&A with Fred Vasseur (Renault (...)

What are you hoping to see from the team in Monaco?

We need to stay on the level of what we saw in Barcelona. Getting into Q2 - and trying to get both cars into Q2 - was a good step forward for us and I think that it would show the team’s performance level. Having said that, the results are also dependent on what’s happening during the races and we’ve seen that at the last GPs. For Monaco, if we can get into Q2, having both cars in the points is a real possibility.

What’s the assessment of the Spanish Grand Prix?

It was certainly a race where we were the best in terms of performance for both drivers so far and on Saturday we were only a few tenths off Q3. Unfortunately Kevin’s incident on the first lap ruined his race. The race result probably didn’t mirror the performance level we had in Spain. There is potential there and we look forward to showing it in Monaco.

What do you do when your drivers manage to make contact with each other on track?

For our incident I didn’t have to say anything at all, not to one nor the other! Kevin and Jolyon spoke to each other in a very open and honest manner afterwards and it was good to see them do that directly between the two of them. In my mind it’s the best way to manage situations like these. We didn’t lose anything as a team. The incident is firmly closed, there is nothing more to talk about.

Are you happy with the progress made at the test?

We are very pleased with the progress made. We had two important aspects we worked on. The first was on the power unit side of things. We were pleased because we did 227 laps without any reliability issues. Additionally, we made progress on the driveability, an important aspect also. Performance-wise, we are equally happy with the steps made.

Looking at the chassis, we had a good list of things to test and that was in itself encouraging. These tests were very constructive and it was good to see the work done at the factory put on the car and be very positive on track. That’s encouraging and motivating for all. We now need to introduce these evolutions as soon as possible starting in Monaco and Canada and hope that they’ll enable us to make steps up in the pecking order.

Esteban ran on the first day of the test. Are you satisfied with the work he did?

After a difficult start to the weekend with limited running in FP1 on the Friday, he did a very good day’s work. Even though the test programme meant that the objective of the day was to follow the team’s instructions, instead of setting a fast lap. He did a great job and the team were very pleased with Esteban at the end of the 105 laps he completed.

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