Renault is struggling to build up its first complete R.S.19 car in time for the car’s shakedown run scheduled to take place on Saturday in Barcelona.
The French squad is expected to roll out its 2019 car behind the Circuit de Catalunya’s closed gates but a lack of parts could force Renault to scrap its filming day altogether.
Following this year’s regulation changes, Renault gave its designers the maximum amount of development time which in turn has led to a compressed build time and supply issues.
“It’s super tight,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com at Tuesday’s team launch at Enstone.
“If I share a little bit of a secret, we are due to do a shakedown on Saturday, during a filming day, and that may or may not take place as we speak.”
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Launch Gallery: Renault R.S.19
Such is Renault’s race against the clock that Abiteboul admitted that there was currently no guarantee that the R.S.19 would take to the track on Monday when pre-season officially kicks off!
“As we speak, we are 100% sure of nothing,” he said.
“There will be two drivers, they will be there if you want to have a chat and a coffee. We should have a motorhome and a coffee machine working, but that is as far as I am 100% sure!”
As it ambitions to edge closer to its front-running rivals, Renault set itself aggressive design targets, but Abiteboul admitted that the team’s approach had perhaps been too incisive.
“We know that there is a direct connection between the time you are spending in the wind tunnel and how competitive you are,” he said.
“We need to be constantly flirting with the red line, but we have maybe gone a bit over the red line. That is why my thoughts really are with production.
“I think for next year on, we will have to be a bit more conservative because it is not just performance, it is reliability.
“You don’t want to turn up and have to shakedown your car and realise that there is something that isn’t working. It is a balancing exercise.”
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