Top teams have knowledge advantage over Renault

Nico Hulkenberg believes that the top teams in Formula One have a knowledge advantage over Renault. The French manufacturer has struggled since the beginning of the hybrid era in 2014 to match the performance and reliability of the top-performing teams in F1.

Despite Renault likely finishing fourth in the 2018 constructor standings, the gap between Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and the rest is vast which Hulkenberg put down to their rivals knowing something they don't.

"The top teams have understood something we have not understood yet, we have to discover this mystery," Hulkenberg told Auto Motor und Sport.

"There is not one part that will bring us half a second right away. We need an increase in every area. The others have a lot more power in qualifying. That's why we often look better in the race. They have to turn it down."

The team will be hoping that with the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull in 2019, the team will be able to improve and begin to fight with the top tier of F1 and become unstuck from the midfield scraps for best of the rest.