Renault still having problems in Canada - MotorSportsTalk

Renault has held its hands up and admitted that the big gains which it expected to make at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix have not come about, meaning that the teams that it powers may again struggle in qualifying and the race.

So far this season, Renault’s power units have been down on power compared to those made by Mercedes and Ferrari. In winter testing, its teams – Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Caterham and Lotus – struggled immensely, and have since been trying to claw back the deficit.

Ahead of this weekend’s race, head of track operations Remi Taffin was confident that it would be “the first full opportunity to see where we are versus the competition”. However, when we spoke to Pastor Maldonado yesterday, he claimed that he was still losing as much as 10km/h heading along the straights.

“Today was a difficult day as predicted,” Taffin explained following practice on Friday. “We knew that the long straights would give us some headaches since the long periods of full throttle and emphasis on top speed do not play to the strengths of our power unit.

“We still have a gap to the Mercedes in front and we can see by the times that we are struggling for overall performance in this low downforce configuration.”

However, Taffin believes that Renault could make up some of the time to Mercedes through energy recovery and fuel saving, which will be crucial to succeeding at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday.

“We have however been able to get a lot of information on fuel consumption,” he said. “The race may demand more than the 100kg permitted fuel limit so making the best use of the recovered energy will be important in the race. We think we’ve got a good handle on it and will look to maximize this area to reduce the gap to the cars in front on Sunday.”

Renault’s poor start has been one of the big stories of 2014 so far, and it has certainly been a headache for Red Bull. The defending world champions already look likely to lose the constructors’ crown to Mercedes, which will come as a bitter blow given that the RB10 car is certainly quick through the corners.

At Renault, the hope must be that the big step forwards comes when F1 returns to Europe in Austria at the end of the month.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”