Renault development “delayed” with shut down of wind tunnel

The French manufacturer’s RS19 hasn’t quite delivered what the team were expecting this year struggling with its aero characteristics. after finishing fourth in the constructor’s championship in 2018.

But team principal claimed that the knowledge they had gained from the first half of the season prompted the upgrade to the wind tunnel in Enstone to aid its development.

"We know the problem, the front wings are super sensitive, the way that they are hitting the bodywork, hitting the floor, leading edge and so on, they are super sensitive and we have understood a lot in the wind tunnel,” he told Motorsport.com.

"This meant the wind tunnel was shut down for more than just the [summer] shutdown.

“That impact on development and the fact that we were working on multiple projects meant that we were delayed, but that was investment.

"If we want to be at the level we want to be ultimately, we had to do these things. So it is an encouraging sign of things to come.

“But there is so much more to be done so I prefer to keep my head down."

The tunnel was shut down for around a period of a month, including the summer break with one of the main reasons to be as prepared as possible for 2021.

"It was started before and completed after [the summer break] so it meant we lost almost a month where we had absolutely no wind tunnel useage," he added.