Renault might be the top 3 next year

[Jukebox]

Maybe Button was right by saying that Renault could very well replace McLaren as the top 3 teams in F1. One thing for sure that convinced me was their revolutionary 111degrees V10 engine in which they introduced last year. Yup..they were bold to spread the V angle to such angle, although it means the car will be wide bodied but it definitely makes the rear aerodynamically lowered.

While their engine generates respectable horsepower last year, their chasis & aero package was a complete flop.

If they could come up with a better aero package by next year and with McLaren not improving their package, i don see why not Renault might make up the top 3 contender for the Constructor's Championship.

[Damon]

Renault might be top three THIS year. The knew Mclaren is proving to be very unrealiable and not a lot faster than the Renualt's.

[f1manoz]

Damon's hit the nail right on the head. Although it is too early to be writing off McLaren, Renault have certainly got a good chassis/engine/driver package going well at the moment. McLaren, meanwhile, are faultering quite bad for a team who do not take kindly to failure.

[Hugh Jarce]

Mmmm 'might' - I think they 'will'.

There seems to be a very optimistic mood in the Renault camp and less so in the McLaren. Plus Button seems to be believing in himslef unlike Coultard.

It will be nice to see things 'shake up' a bit!

[Maxmil]

Originally posted by Damon
Renault might be top three THIS year.

I think this is a real possibility. McL's now know they have virtually no chance for a championship which will continue to take a toll of their morale. Their chances of even winning more than a single race are also very slim. If discouragement sets in, it will favor Renault who can count a victory every time they finish in the points. It will be a close race, and Renault can win it if they are consistant finishers. Button will need some help though.

Go Regie!!!

[EERO]

Its a sad state of affairs when Illmor cannot produce a decent engine. The chassis seems to be much better than last year's, but DC's dream of finally being able to mount a serious challengse is fading awfully fast. What is pleasing is that Trulli and Button may actually get to run at the front this year and sneak a lucky win.

I still think that McLaren has the stronger driving pair, but Renault could well beat Woking to Third in the WCC this year. Renault is clearly on the ascendency and McLaren is at best, static.

[Muzza]

Hello, EERO,

Yes, you are right on the mark. Did you notice how hard Mclaren set up their suspensions? It was far beyond reasonable.

They were really trying to gain time in the corner approaches at any cost. It did not work - and running the suspension so hard might be behind the cause of Raikkonen's crash.

Cheers,

Muzza

[RussianFriend]

Does Mr Adrian Newey still work in Mc?

[Raven]

This is a transition year for McLaren.

They have a completely new chassis and a wider angle engine which is speculated to be struggling to pull 800+ bhp, while the BMW, Ferrari & Toyota are producing 850-70. While the chassis has potential, they're having to make a big compromise in down force to compensate the lack of grunt.

I agree about them struggling to win a race this year, I think it will need some luck if it happens. I still expect them to do well at places such as Barcelona where they should have a good balance from their aero package for the long fast corners. Monaco and Silverstone are two more circuits I expect McLaren to be strong.

Renault on the other hand are looking in great shape. I think they could be in the top 3 quite a bit this year and perhaps challenging for the championship next year. Their improvement in the last 8 months has been amazing.

[Schummy]

I think the top echelon will become the top four, not the top three, s I see Renault definitively there in very short time and I don't see McLaren falling down yet.

In a very subjective way, I see Willliams going up, almost in the top, Renault going up with still more to go, Ferrari on the top, almost beginning to slowly fading, and Mac slowly going down (starting in last season).

That VERY SUBJECTIVE scene would imply at the end of this season Williams will be the strongest, Ferrari will fight will Renault to hold 2nd and McLaren will be slowly decaying a bit towards Sauber-Jordan(?)-BAR(?)-Toyota(!)-Jaguar(!) zone.

Yes, I know, this is just an idea, not anything supported by facts. But, what the hell, we all like to wonder about those things

[Kex]

I think it's pretty likely that Renault will get a few podiums this year. They won't win on their current speed unless the Williams' and Ferraris retire or their race plan gets screwed.

I'd like to see 4 teams winning races next year, and Renault look the most likely to win out of the rest. A couple of years ago, you would have thought Jordan would be winning once every few races....where are they now?

[TeddyG]

I personally believe that Renault are going to be the strongest team next year all they have to do is improve that engine a bit more (which nobody can touch right now in technical terms) and design an even better car next year with an improved aero package (which they will). Technology is everything and Renault has the upper hand I believe. I just hope they pick up Jacques (he deserves a decent ride) but I have heard recently that it looks like he may be sticking with BAR for another season....ahhhhh I really hope that's not true.

[rcwatts17]

I just hope that Renault sticks with Jenson Button for next season. I think it is becoming clear that Jenson is developing into the driver we thought he would, and even though i rate alonso highly i believe jenson is looking a better bet at the moment. Unless Frank Williams gives a seat to JB for next year, i think he should just ask to be released from his contract. Am i crazy? No i dont think so. Put it this way, renault are looking VERY impressive. They will win a race this year i think, and they will improve each year as the team begins to gel. By the time a seat becomes available at Williams, the renault could be the car to have.

[mariov]

Renault will be in there next year...But I m hopping that it gets very fuzzy between the top 5 teams

Its been a long time since we had more then 3 teams that could fight for the victory....

not since the end of the 70' and the 80'...Still remember when a Ferrari, Lotus, Ligier, Wolf, Brabham or Williams could fight for the win

Im hopping that next Year Renault joins Merc, Williams and Ferrari at the top...and that the following year Toyota joins them and that Honda get their acts straight....

[Jukebox]

We'll just have to see whether they can stay consistent or not...McLaren have always been the best bet many years back but they lack the reliability part and their machines seems to lack of horsepower nowadays (either the chasis or engine god only knows). I guess i'll have to make my decision by the 2nd quarter of next season whether Renault could be a serious contender for the WCC.

[Kex]

1997 was quite a good year, plenty of racing. And 4 teams won races. OK Benetton only won once but they were usually running (almost) at the front.

[Nicholas]

Is it true that Newey will leave F1 in the next couple of years? I saw an Autosport headline saying something like that in the wake of "Neweygate."

[strad]

I have said for some time now that if McLaren didn't stop their slide ( and they don't appear to be) that Renault would be the next one to step up to challenge for a place in the top trio.
They are making great hp, but I notice they still haven't made their electro-magnetic valve system work..
Does anybody think they'll ever get it to work depndably in the rpm range of todays F1 engine?

[Jukebox]

they opted for camshaft driven valves not because they can't get it to work.

[Jukebox]

and with a maximum revs of 17,500rpm is respectable enough.

[strad]

They have never gotten the system to work in that range and you know it...
That's why they haven't used it. along with the weight and the unreliability....

[Jukebox]

You are right about the weight problem. It is because of the large electro-magnets & the valves itself. That's why they have to spread the V bank angle to 111 degrees for the RS21. But another problem arose when they did that, there's extra vibration and directley reducing the torsional rigidity.

They have used the electro magnetic valves last year but because of those problems they had encountered, they resorted to using the camshaft driven valves instead and from that the RS22 V angle is reduced to about 107 to 109 degrees (i was wrong about the RS22 still having the 111degrees angle).

That's why i said earlier not because of they haven't made it work yet.

[Glen]

I was surprised about the 17,500 rpm limit - this is quite a bit lower than the top teams, yet they were able to keep pace pretty well on the "power" parts of the track. So; as well as having the class-leading wide angle and low C-of-G Renault appear to have plently of grunt and drivability - this is further supported by the fact that they make do with six gears, which would imply good flexibility.

I think Sauber have got too much to do already to be confident of fourth place in the Constructor's, but I also do not think that Mclaren have lost enough ground to surrender third.

[mariov]

For McLaren to stay on top, they will need to go foward with their purchase of Ilmore now. Illien needs someone to run the administrative part of the company.

Penske agreed to sell, Illien is all for it....his ex-parners wife is holding out for more....so they should close this dossier and move on....Buy it and have their administrative guru run it, and give Illien a break so that he can concentrate on the engine conception like he did in the past.

[senna12]

The Renaults were very close to the Macs in qualifying at Brazil, even after David took Jarno, and Kimi took Jenson, they did not drive away from them in the race. Renaults development pace has probably been the greatest of any team, in terms of progress made (Toyota second?).

Most commentators I've read and seen, in fact all of them, agree the problem is the engine, the Speedvision commentators mentioned a figure of 790 hp, so at least the problem has been identified. If there are big problems at the engine builder then that does not bode well. There has to be stability.