Renault thinks it is a solid bet to head the F1 midfield in 2017. The French works team had a bad 2016 in the wake of the Lotus takeover, but technical boss Alan Permane said at the end of Barcelona testing: "Together with Toro Rosso, we are slightly ahead of Force India and Haas."
Indeed, it is believed that Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull top the pecking order, Williams is alone in fourth place followed by a gaggle of midfielders. Permane added: "I do not believe that Toro Rosso, Haas and Force India will be able to keep up with our development pace."
Local time 07:07
Local time 07:07
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
Replies (5)
Login to replymclarenfan1968
Posts: 1,027
Hopefully a lot of these predictors will eat crow.
bubbazaneti
Posts: 16
Yep my thoughts exactly!its the usual from Renault and TR! I would never underestimate at little but transparent team like HAAS!but i see McLaren suffer again this year!
mclarenfan1968
Posts: 1,027
Mclaren is powered sashimi, everything will turn out alright. Lubricants will be wasabi
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Being a works team, they should be able to end the season better than customer teams now that the token system is gone, and given their development budget. I guess with Red Bull being the exception. It's got to be a bittersweet victory seeing their engine in a car that is running ahead of them.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Im certain that Williams opinion differ quite alot from this, and I doubt Toro Rosso will do their best to deny Renault this pleasure.