Share this article on LinkedIn Email

Renault's next major power unit upgrade will not be introduced until the first race of the 2017 Formula 1 season according to Remi Taffin.

The French manufacturer started the season with a brand new specification, having spent seven development tokens over the winter.

It spent a further token on a small update in Bahrain and then introduced its next spec in Monaco, after using another three tokens.

Renault had been undecided as to when it would introduce another upgrade, given it has 21 tokens remaining, but it was considering another towards the end of this year.

When asked in Hungary about when to expect the next upgrade, Taffin said: "It will be next year, the big step we will have will be next year, race one.

"Until we get to the end of the season, we will be working on the specification we have now, trying to extract the most out of it.

"But there won't be any more big steps like we had for race one and race six."

It is believed the updated spec introduced in Monaco has given a laptime gain of around half a second.

Taffin said he was pleased with the progress Renault has made this year on the engine front following its struggles in 2015 but admitted there was still a lot to do.

"It can be good satisfaction," he said. "Where we were coming from, it was a difficult year last year.

"Now we can see the improvement on track and everything we got out of the factory to the track was working well.

"That's a good step forward. That's the same for the first race and Monaco/Montreal when we introduced a new specification.

"It's all working well. We're on it but we still have a good way to go."

Autosport understands while Renault still has 21 tokens remaining, it will only use the ones it needs and would be unconcerned if it ended the year with a surplus.

ENGINE TOKEN USE SO FAR IN 2016

Ferrari 29 (3 remaining)

Honda 22 (10 remaining)

Mercedes 21 (11 remaining)

Renault 11 (21 remaining)