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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“It’s super tight,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com<\/em> at Tuesday’s team launch at Enstone.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n 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!<\/p>\n “As we speak, we are 100% sure of nothing,” he said.<\/p>\n “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!”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “I think for next year on, we will have to be a bit more conservative because it is not just performance, it is reliability.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers<\/u><\/p>\n\nLaunch Gallery: Renault R.S.19\n<\/ul>\n