Dec 6th, 2018

Dec 6th, 2018

Daniel Ricciardo’s new boss says there’s “no reason” the Renault engine won’t be on a par with Mercedes or Ferrari in 2019, despite the French manufacturer spending the last five years trying to close the gap without success.

Renault powered Sebastian Vettel to four consecutive world championships from 2010-2013, but with the switch to turbo-hybrid units in 2014 found themselves lagging badly behind the front runners.

Red Bull have been openly critical of Renault’s performance over the last five years, and will switch to Honda power for the 2019 season.

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul says the team will be working flat-out through the northern winter to overcome the power deficit.

Renault finished fourth in the constructors title in 2018. (AAP)

"We're missing about 15 to 20 kilowatts of engine power [20-27bhp] in the race, which under certain conditions could be made up for by the Red Bull chassis,” Abiteboul told Auto Motor und Sport.

"In qualifying we estimate our deficit at 40 kilowatts [53bhp], and that's significant."

"With a customer engine from Mercedes or Ferrari we would have qualified in seventh place in Abu Dhabi. This shows that we have a better chassis than our (midfield) competitors, but also shows we are not as good as the three top teams.

"That's why the main focus at first is on engine development. Next year, I don't want to have to say anymore that we lacked too much power in qualifying. There's no reason why we shouldn't close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari with the engine over the winter. With the chassis it will take a little longer."

While Renault finished fourth in the constructors championship in 2018, their tally of 122 points pales into insignificance alongside the totals of Mercedes (655), Ferrari (571) and Red Bull (419).

Renaul F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul (AAP)

Ricciardo will switch to Renault for 2019, a team that hasn’t managed a single podium finish in the last three seasons.

"It's hard for me today to set targets for next year," Abiteboul said.

"In sport, that always depends a bit on the performance of the others. But if the curve points upwards like ours, you want this trend to continue.

"Maybe we won't be able to do that in terms of the world championship position, but we want to reduce the gap to the top. Let's wait and see what happens with Red Bull and Honda. Red Bull never gets tired of telling how good Honda is compared to us.

"May I say that Toro Rosso (Red Bull’s sister team who already use Honda engines) is still behind us?"