Vasseur: The devil is in the detail

Team Principal Fred Vasseur evaluates the good and the bad of Hockenheim and looks forward to the second part of the year, which starts in Spa-Francorchamps.

Did you take anything positive away from the German Grand Prix?

The team is now in a period where we are moving forward. In the German race we fought with Haas and Toro Rosso, which shows our overall level has improved. However, we made an error in strategy, which cost one or two places. We made two stops, which was not an issue, but we did the two stops at the wrong time. Nevertheless there were some strong positives – we got to Q2 with Jo and punched above our weight in the race. We now need to keep fighting with the same competition and adapt our strategy moving forward.

What would you like to see from the team in the second part of the season?

If you look at the last two or three events, we are improving but we need to be focussed on the smaller details. We need to look at set-up and strategy and make sure we are doing a better job compared to the last events. We also need to understand tyre management a bit better. Over the last two or three races we have looked at it a lot and we have a much better understanding now, so we need to keep on with this trajectory. We are improving on the grid but if you look at race pace we are always better off than in qualifying. This means we need to get more from the Saturday situation. We are going in the right direction but we need to find two or three tenths and it is in the smaller details we need to improve and find it.

When can we expect a decision on the 2017 line-up?

This is a question we will get asked until we announce the drivers, and maybe even afterwards! At the moment our focus is to keep getting the best from the car. We have two drivers that are motivated so the second part of the year is to keep track of expectations and see where we are. In reality we won’t take any decision before September for sure – we have no time! But it is up to us and we will take a decision when we are ready.

Cyril Abiteboul, managing director

After a very busy start to the year it was good to take some time to sit back and look at our journey since December 2015. In just over eight months we have revitalised two sites, started an aggressive recruitment campaign to build the workforce, initialised a re-build plan for Enstone, scored our first points and laid down some strong foundations for the future.

Naturally we still have a long way to do until we reach our objectives, but we are on track with the plan to get there.

Realistically in 2016 we will only be taking small steps as our main focus is now shifting to 2017 and beyond. Just before the shutdown we were on the tail of the midfield and able to fight for position; we still have a number of minor planned developments coming on stream in the later races so keeping this level of performance has got to be our objective for Spa and beyond.

We’re motivated and believe we have the structure and tools to do it. It’s not going to be a walk in the park, but Formula 1 never is!

Additionally, Esteban joining Manor Racing for the last nine races of the season demonstrates the excellent relationship the two teams, Renault Sport Formula One Team and Mercedes AMG Petronas, have maintained for several years.

It is an outstanding opportunity for Esteban to gather mileage and race experience in a young, stable and very professional team. Esteban will be up against a highly rated and quick teammate, which will enable us to evaluate him in a representative environment. I hope this experience will be of great benefit for him and for Renault in the near future.”