Boullier admits mixed feeling about season
Thursday 7th July 2011
Renault boss Eric Boullier has admitted to "mixed feelings" with regard to the season so far after watching his team go off the boil.
Third-place finishes for Vitaly Petrov and then Nick Heidfeld in Australia and Malaysia respectively appeared to suggest Renault would strongly push Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari this season.
But that has not been the case of late as the duo have slipped down the order, with Petrov collecting just 10 points from his last four races and Heidfeld nine.
Boullier, though, is convinced the Enstone-based marque can get back on track as he said: "We had a very strong start to the season with a couple of podiums.
"But obviously we have now had a few races where we haven't performed as well as we need to.
"We know we have to react well, and we think we have a clear understanding of what may have gone wrong and we've started to correct it.
"If our car was so good at the beginning of the season, we must be able to get that level of performance back for the remaining 11 races.
"Now is a good time to really, really push and comprehend why we haven't been able to keep our pace relative to the other teams on the grid."
Of concern from this weekend's British Grand Prix onwards, however, is the ban on off-throttle blown diffusers, a device that increases downforce and so aids performance.
Renault this season unveiled a radical new exhaust system with the exits in the middle on each side of the car, and so they could be severely compromised.
Assessing the matter, Boullier added: "It's a complicated issue and difficult to state their exact impact just yet.
"What's certain is that we need to anticipate the changes to the regulations in the best way we can.
"It will definitely affect every single team, and it's up to us and our engineers to cope better than our competitors with the changes."
With the team based just 29 miles away from Silverstone, there is naturally the hope of a strong performance this weekend, although Boullier is realistic.
"I think it's important as an English company, and as an English F1 team, to do well at your home race because there's more local attention," said Boullier.
"It's also a tough fight because most teams on the grid are English as well, so it makes it even more exciting.
"The Silverstone track layout is very good, and we've seen many overtaking manoeuvres here in the past so we can expect a strong show and a spectacular race."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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