Renault sees less progress in 2018 than 2017

Recently appointed Renault technical director Marcin Budkowski has admitted that the French team have made less progress with than they would've liked in 2018, especially when compared with the previous year. Renault rejoined the grid full time after taking over from the struggling Lotus team in 2016, and have made constant progress up the field since.

Renault boss Carlos Ghosn said in 2016 how the team planned to be back at the sharp end of the grid by 2018, but thanks to much development and continued dominance of the top three teams, Renault still seem a bit off the pace.

"We could have had better results last season if we focused more short term." Budkowski told French outlet AutoHebdo. "That's not how we work, as we look to the future more."

Despite the constant and improving progress mentioned made by the Renault team, Budkowski is not worried that the team is still off the pace of the leading teams. 2019 will also be a big year for the team as Daniel Ricciardo joins the team from Red Bull.

"The championship is the only thing that matters for us and we have to build a team that can take on a job like that. We've been able to build that team for three years now, now the three years of putting pressure at the top will come. We only didn't deliver last season developing the cars, considerably worse than the season prior."