Renault Sport
Renault says that it is aware it faces a tough challenge at this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, despite making improvements across recent races.
Renault claimed its first victory of the V6 power unit era in Montreal last year courtesy of Daniel Ricciardo following problems for both Mercedes drivers, but endured a difficult start to 2015 due to performance and reliability issues.
Red Bull managed to claim fourth and fifth in Monaco but Renault has warned that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will not play to the manufacturer's strengths.
"We are realistic ahead of this race," said director of operations Remi Taffin.
"We’ve put in a great deal of work on reliability and have improved our record in the last two races, but we know that Montreal will be tough for us performance-wise.
"Knowing that power is critical, we have to try to repeat our Monaco approach, which was to optimise each sector individually.
"Unlike Monaco, however, we also need to assess the right drag/downforce compromise to allow good performance in qualifying and the race. We are getting there, and hope we can be closer yet again in Montreal."
Taffin added that finding the right approach in Canada is a difficult proposition.
"The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve puts the internals under intense pressure," he said.
"Over half of the track is taken at full throttle, with two long straights, and the heavy braking points at the end of those straights put the ICE [Internal Combustion Engine] under extreme load.
"Even the energy recovery systems will feel the pressure in Canada with the numerous heavy braking points and straights, so overall it’s a very difficult race to get right."
