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| Red Bull will be one of the few teams running with Renault power in 2015. — Photo: Getty Images |
Mercedes power dominated the 2014 Formula One season and powered Mercedes AMG Petronas to both a driver’s and constructor’s championship. Renault lagged behind for most of the year and only challenged with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
On Wednesday, Renault released some interesting numbers regarding their 2015 power unit and how it compares to last year’s. Right off the bat managing director Cyril Abiteboul said “last year we went to Melbourne in a very different frame of mind, but in 2015 we are much happier in our own skin.” Renault will be looking to close the gap to Mercedes this year.
The manufacturer said that they are now able to harvest 25 percent more thermal energy than last year and have become more efficient fuel wise. It is now 5 percent more efficient at every speed which should help the teams with fuel conservation throughout the race. The two teams that are designated to run with Renault power (Red Bull, Toro Rosso) will be looking to use this fuel conservation to their advantage throughout the season.
Abiteboul said that the test engines have covered over 9,000 kilometers in testing and are showing signs of increased reliability this year, something they struggled with in comparison to Mercedes. With reliability improving, the actual performance gap to Mercedes is the next problem to solve.
Abiteboul added, “we’ve still got a long way to go, but the season is equally long and we’ve still got items up our sleeves to further improve in 2015.”
The Single Seater 