McLaren Confident of Renault Power and Reliability

Published 02/18/2018, 2:36 PM EST

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The McLaren F1 team have revealed that new engine partner Renault are close to delivering a more powerful and reliable engine this season. In 2017, the French engine manufacturer won three races with Red Bull Racing. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing as the Renault power unit suffered difficulties with reliability, particularly with the MGU-K.

Renault have vowed to resolve these issues ahead of the new season in order to remain competitive. The team hope that they can challenge Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari in the upcoming season. McLaren chiefs have confirmed that signs from Renault’s Viry-Chatillion base are positive.

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown said, “There are no alarm bells ringing. They seem to be very confident – although it is best that they talk about the specifics. In terms of power and reliability, they are happy with where they are at and what has been happening on the dyno. And specifically the reliability – they think they are on top of it. Last year they had the power, and it was when they turned it up that the reliability issues kicked in. So they had their issues in Mexico but they also dominated the race, so we are feeling good.”

McLaren’s Chief Technical Officer Tim Goss believes that the new rules regarding engine parts, reliability and mileage will be crucial. He said, “They have developed the engine. They have improved it and it will be more powerful. One of the big challenges they have got, and all four power unit manufacturers have got, is the change in the sport regulations so there are only three ICEs and three MGU-Hs allowed per driver per season and two ES packs and two MGU-Ks.”

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Goss continued, “It is a huge task in stretching the mileage of the Renault power units, so a lot of the focus for all the power unit manufacturers has been making sure they can get the extra mileage as opposed to just chasing performance.”

Brown also hinted at ‘magic modes’ within the engine to boost qualifying performance. Back in 2017, qualifying was a major Achilles heel for McLaren.

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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