The 2016 season has proved an interesting time for Renault. On the one hand their power unit has shown huge improvement, helping Red Bull back to the top step of the podium. On the other, their new works team has been struggling to even score points. We caught up with Jerome Stoll, President of Renault Sport Racing, for an exclusive insight into their progress and plans…
Q: What have been the achievements of the year so far?
Jerome Stoll: We’ve implemented our works team strategy for Formula One. We’ve made superb gains in performance and reliability from our power unit. We have restructured the Renault Sport Racing facility in Viry, including integrating our customer racing activities on this site. It has certainly been a busy year so far.
Jerome Stoll (FRA) Director of Renault Sport F1 at Formula One World Championship, Rd1, Australian Grand Prix, Qualifying, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday 19 March 2016.
By 2020 we want to be fighting for the championships with the best power unit and best chassis in the sport.
Jerome Stoll
Q: How do view the performance of the Formula One team to date?
JS: Clearly we all want better performance and that is something which drives us all. We are at the start of a long project and the steps we have made and continue to make are about securing repeatable performance gains and being able to deliver at the highest level for the years to come. Seven months ago there was no Renault Sport Formula One Team so we have achieved a lot, not just getting this year’s car out on track but also in getting all the building blocks in place for sustainable development. We have seen the potential of the power unit and this has been the result of a number of years work but also of the strategic changes in Viry, decided at the beginning of this year. We keep an ambition to finish in a better position at the end of the year, but will not lose sight of the longer term objective to fight for podiums as soon as 2018.
Q: What steps are being made to drive the performance forward?
JS: The redeployment of the management structure, based on the appraisal of the requirements of the two entities (Enstone and Viry), is underway. In our management structure, Cyril Abiteboul will retain his previous position of Managing Director of Renault Sport Racing but he will focus his time on the improvements that need to be made to Enstone as well as the alignment between the two sites of Viry and Enstone. The consequence is that he will move in the UK in the very near future. RSR management structure has also recently been completed with a number of functions common to Viry and Enstone - finance, legal, HR, marketing & communication and business - who will report to Cyril and not to me anymore.
Frederic Vasseur gains the title Team Principal of the Formula One team and will be responsible for the performance and results of the team. He will share his time between a long and demanding F1 season, at all races managing the track operations of Renault Sport F1 Team, and the day to day management of the activities in Viry-Chatillon where both Formula One engine and customer racing activities are based.
We also have the target of almost 100 extra personnel at Enstone this year as well as over 30 extra personnel at Viry. This is not the work of a moment as we are targeting the very best people in their respective fields.
Q: What is the future plan?
JS: We are committed to a capital expenditure programme over the next five years and this is sufficient to make us a top team in Formula One. Our recent announcement that we will be supplying two other Formula One teams with power units is beneficial for all involved. Next year we are targeting top five in the constructors’ championship; the year after we want to be regularly fighting for podiums. By 2020 we want to be fighting for the championships with the best power unit and best chassis in the sport. This is what we want to achieve.
