I admit, I was a week early in predicting this problem would rear it’s ugly heard. I had a feeling teams would feel the pinch of stretched resources because of the 2009 rules just after the Turkish GP.
I missed it by this much: Renault’s director of engineering Pat Symonds is feeling the squeeze, or at least admitting to feeling it now.
“It is always difficult and the level of difficulty depends on two major factors - one is where you are sitting in the current championship, how threatened you are and what you can achieve.
“If you are in a solid third place and unlikely to get second but unlikely to drop to fourth, more or less as we were last year, you can think about turning your attention to the following year. If you are fighting, like we are doing this year, then you have got to keep the development.”
“And it makes it a very hard for us to do. We are a big team but we are not big enough to handle two major projects and some of the people who are maybe struggling this year, for example Honda, are pushing a lot more effort into next year than we have been able to. We may see a little bit of a shake-up of the establishment next year.”
My two sheckles: Symonds, have a peek at the current standings, Renault is sitting seventh in constructors’ championship and both drivers chances of winning the drivers championship are slim and non-existent.
So what’s your point? do what you have to do, prepare for next year and start now.
Secondly, what shake-up? Mclaren, Mercedes and BMW have the resources presumably to accomplish continuing the fight this year and prepare for 2009 simultaneously.
There might be a shake-up but it damn sure won’t be any of those top three, it will occur below them.
In short Symonds, you better find a way to do both otherwise Renault will be looking up at seventh place in 2009.
Technorati Tags: Fernando Alonso, Renault F1, McLaren
Tags: Fernando Alonso, Mclaren, Renault F1
peterg wrote,
Renault’s fall down the grid started with the switch to Bridgestone rubber. The team, & it’s rear-weighted chassis, really got the most out of their Michelin rubber.
If lasts years woeful performance drop was a surprise, this year has me even more perplexed as the team has great technical resources & all of last seasons lessons to draw from. If 07’s curse was the rubber, 08’s is the loss of engine braking & TC.
Despite having one of the smaller budgets in F1, Renault have won titles in the recent past, IMHO, I would be reluctant to assume that next year will be a repeat of this season…..& if Nelson Piquet can’t lift his game his will be the first head to roll; replaced by Grosjean?
Link | May 29th, 2008 at 9:03 am
F1Wolf wrote,
haha, I had the same on mind today … I had really no idea what dilema Symonds has … If he has a dilema, then he probably should not be doing the job he is doing …
Link | May 29th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Rage-in-Chief wrote,
I agree Wolf, Symonds better get off the stick and quit laying out sad excuses for piss-poor performance.
Link | May 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm