Renault looking to secure fifth in the championship

November 8th, 2011 (F1plus Team).- Renault has had an odd season in terms of many aspects. They started strong with a couple of consecutive third places finishes and on the hand of different drivers, something that allowed to think that the car was good.

After that, little by little the team slowed its progress down while the rest of the pack has improved. Force India has been beating them lately (and through the second half of the season), and Mercedes is now a bit farther away in terms of performance.

Additionally, in the middle of the season they discarded Nick Heidfeld, for not really convincing reason and added Bruno Senna as an official driver who seemed to have started well, but now it looks like his seas is not entirely guaranteed for next season.

On top of this, last week the team announced that Lotus is formally taking over its name, and most probably operations in the future, which hints that Renault will ended up as an engine supplier (something that they have always done very well anyway)

Renault currently stands in fifth in the constructor’s Championship, with a 21 point margin over the combined efforts of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil, but a couple of good races might change that in favor of Force India.

Now Renault is preparing for the last two races of the season, and still feels optimistic, but cautious. Vitaly Petrov put it better the sentiment in words: “I am naturally inclined to say I don’t know if the circuit will suit our car. When we arrive and are able to observe how the tyres are working, we will know where we are placed relative to our rivals.”

And, Bruno Senna added: “we always wait until Friday to know what to expect in terms of results”

The team wants to prove they could compete to a higher level, and these two last instances might shed light of what are the necessary steps to achieve that goal for next year. They guarantee they will work very hard for these final two races.

“We are at the business end of the season now and, make no mistake, we will be putting in every ounce of effort to secure some pride for the team.” Senna said.

Eric Boullier, Reanult’s Principal, also showed a bit of his optimistic vision: “It is our only target now that we get our car up amongst the points and show people that this team is ready to launch its assault on next year’s championship.