Hulkenberg takes dig at Renault

Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg has taken a dig at his own team following a disappointing Russian Grand Prix for the French manufacturer.

Renault were 1.6 seconds behind Red Bull in qualifying at Sochi, which extended by the time the actual race came around.

Hulkenberg only managed P12; a lap adrift of the race leader Lewis Hamilton, with the Hulk's team-mate Carlos Sainz two laps adrift of Hamilton.

The German driver did not hold his words in after the race: "If you snooze you lose in Formula 1. Ultimately we were just lacking pace and were just too slow.

"Even with the clean race and good conversation of the strategy, we didn't get anywhere, didn't get a result or points. Our package at the moment isn't competitive enough."

Team ambassador Alain Prost echoed the German's thoughts about Renault.

"We haven't really progressed, in fact, we are regressing in some areas while the others have made good progress with their engines," Prost told Canal+.

"It's very difficult right now because we are not going to bring many updates to the car or the engine as we are focussing on next year. However, we must be realistic and analyse what is happening because we are not at the level we need to be.

"Preparations for next season are going well, but we know that it will be impossible to catch up within a year. We would have liked to be closer to the others in this second half of the season, but we're not there and we should be aware of this."