Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul doesn’t believe any power unit manufacturer will hit the ‘holy grail’ horsepower target this year, despite speculation amongst the Italian media that Ferrari’s 2017 engine will deliver the magic 1,000hp target.
Although Abiteboul admits it’s an achievable target, he doesn’t expect any of the four manufacturers to reach that figure in 2017.
“I think the top performance of the power units will be between 900 and 950hp [this year],” he told Auto Motor und Sport.
“The teams counting on 1,000hp may be a bit too optimistic. I think not even Mercedes will achieve that.
“But this is definitely achievable within the current regulations. We have some radical concepts in the pipeline, however, not for this season. We need more time.”
Discussing Renault’s targets for this season, the Frenchman wants to close in on Mercedes but doesn’t expect that to happen immediately.
“We do not assume that we will match Mercedes at the start of the season. But we like to believe we're close enough to have Red Bull fight against them when they build a good chassis. And I'm sure they will.
“Our goal is to surpass the Mercedes engine in 2018. This year we will be a little behind them.”
