diffuser wrote: ↑18 Sep 2021, 02:36
He doesn't mention McLaren at all.
That's true, but they are midfield competitors who started at the same place (in the midfield) and previously used the same power units.
If I am not mistaken the McLaren chassis came from behind, overtook and was already starting to edge ahead of the Renault in 2019 and 2020, despite identical power units at the time? Some might say McLaren have shown a greater rate of improvement than Renault.
I guess you could pinpoint the 2019 RS19 as not bringing the improvement over the 2018 RS18 which Renault would have expected, therefore setting Renault back in their development efforts? I.e., needing to catch up again, instead of surging forwards towards racing Mercedes and Red Bull.
2017:
6th Renault 57 pts
9th McLaren-Honda 30 pts
2018:
4th Renault 122 pts
6th McLaren-Renault 62 pts
2019:
4th McLaren-Renault 145 pts
5th Renault 91 pts
2020:
3rd McLaren-Renault 202 pts
5th Renault 181 pts
2021 (incomplete):
3rd McLaren-Mercedes 215 pts
5th Alpine-Renault 95 pts
diffuser wrote: ↑18 Sep 2021, 02:36
The started earlier and have more wind tunnel time. Why not.
Excellent!
For comparison's sake here is Renault's previous progression. It would be unusual, but not impossible to go directly from 5th fastest to fastest car.
2001: 7th Benetton-Renault 10 pts
2002: 4th Renault 23 pts
2003: 4th Renault 88 pts
2004: 3rd Renault 105 pts
2005: 1st Renault 191 pts
2006: 1st Renault 206 pts