Renault's Canada upgrade on dyno at the moment

Renault is on track to unveil a significant upgrade for its 'power unit' in Canada. The French marque's F1 official Cyril Abiteboul has already said the step could see Renault halve the current performance deficit to F1 engine leader Mercedes. As well as the struggling works team, customer Red Bull is also looking forward to the upgrade.

"We had a great race in China with the podium," Daniil Kvyat told Russia's Sportbox, "and realised that we can compete with Ferrari. During the season, we can make a step forward and improve the results even more," he added.

Abiteboul has now told Denmark's Ekstra Bladet newspaper that the Canada upgrade is on schedule. "As we speak right now, it is on the dyno on France," he revealed. "It will run as many kilometres as possible so that we can achieve our goal, which is Montreal," Abiteboul, referring to June's Canadian grand prix, added.

He said the upgrade should help Renault's Enstone based works team to improve, after a particularly difficult weekend in China. "We are new in formula one and have not set specific targets," said the Frenchman, "but I would like to see us fight with McLaren and Haas."

In China, Renault - along with Sauber and Manor - was little more than a backmarker. "We cannot resolve everything now, but we have improvements on the way for both the car and the engine," Abiteboul said. "We will fight for points. Honestly it will not be podiums but points in every race." (GMM)