Lom and Red Bull aiming to beat Toyota

Fabrice Lom, the man who oversees the activities of Renault F1 at Red Bull Racing, looks back on the Bahrain Grand Prix and the weekend to come in Barcelona. Interestingly, Lom does not agree with Renault`s Bob Bell that the V8 engine is down on power compared to its rivals.

Fabrice, how did you view the performance of Red Bull Racing in Bahrain?
“We knew that it was going to be difficult, because the characteristics of the circuit did not suit the qualities of our car. But we were still disappointed not to reach the top ten in qualifying, even though Mark Webber only missed tenth place by 0.009s. However, we were confident for the race because we had been very competitive over long runs in free practice. We were proved to be right because Mark had an impeccable race to finish seventh to claim two points, which is an excellent result considering the current hierarchy of teams.”

You say that the characteristics of Bahrain were not suited to the qualities of the car. Is the engine part of this?
“All the indications show that the Renault V8 is at a level of our competitors and that it is even among the top engines. We have absolutely no worries concerning this issue, or for that matter concerning the level of reliability. Besides, Barcelona or even Istanbul should give us an advantage.

We are therefore more than happy and ready for the next challenges that await us.”

What are the aims for the first European Grand Prix of the season in Barcelona?
“Clearly we want to progress in the hierarchy and to get in front of the Toyotas. We have several improvements to the chassis that were tested last week in Barcelona. The objective will be to improve our performance quicker than our rivals and to establish ourselves as the fourth team in the championship. We do not want to lose any ground and will try to progress step-by-step. For the next Grand Prix, Mark will use his engine from Bahrain and David will have a fresh V8. Everybody knows the circuit very well because it is the traditional testing home for the teams. So we know that our opponents will be at their optimum during this race. We will also need to be.”

E.A.

22.4.2008   ▪ Formula One    ▪ Red Bull, Toyota    ▪ en.f1-live.com