'I think we can beat Mercedes' - Renault boss

Renault team boss Cyril Abiteboul has insisted that reliability is the main focus for the French manufacturer for the 2018 campaign following a 2017 season which was dogged by moments of unreliable engine parts, and went on to claim that if the team can get this right, they could challenge Mercedes.

Renault provided parts for Red Bull for 2017, and although that team won three Grand Prix races in the campaign, engine reliability became a huge issue for Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo who incurred a few grid penalties due to the problems. These issues filtered down to another one of Renault's customer, Toro Rosso, also.

Not only is Renault pushing ahead with their own works team, but they will also now be providing parts for McLaren, meaning that reliability will become even more important than before. However, Abiteboul is confident that Renault can flourish, and perhaps even challenge Mercedes for the championship.

"Reliability will come first," he told Marca.

"We've seen this season that you need to walk before you can run.

"I think we were too aggressive on many occasions in the way that we tried to provide extra performance too quickly due to expectations.

"I think we have to go step by step, first by being reliable and accumulating as many kilometres as possible during the winter tests, which is I think important for any plan you may have for the chassis.

"I think if we have reliability, I am extremely comfortable and confident that we can beat Mercedes."