SEPTEMBER 20, 2002

Renault worried about 2003

Renault bosses are worried that the 120-degree V10 engine program - which has not been a great success to date - is going to be a major handicap next year.

Renault bosses are worried that the 120-degree V10 engine program - which has not been a great success to date - is going to be a major handicap next year. But it is too late now to design anything else and so the team is going into next year with the same basic engine design as before. This is likely to cause stresses and strains because the chassis side of the team has been building up to a situation in which it will be right on the pace in 2003 and there is likely to be plenty of frustration amongst the engineers in Britain if the engine does not live up to expectations.

The 2003 engine has been under development for a long time but it was always conceived to be a development of the wide-angled engine rather than a return to the more conventional (and more successful) 90-degree units. The realization that this might not be the best course of action has come late in the day and although it is rumored that Renault recently tried to hire one of the top men from BMW it seems as though the company has no choice but to go ahead with the original program.